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| Post Number: 1
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Leisher 
Top 3%, yo.
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 26651
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 27 2016,06:58 |
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Driving into work this morning and there's a section of the expressway that's been under construction for 2-3 years now. It causes a massive back up almost daily where the expressway splits before heading into downtown. One way goes north to Detroit, the other goes south into downtown. Before the construction, the way south was two lanes, but now it's down to one and leads into a really awkward and short merge lane with expressway traffic coming from the north. This causes the backup.
Adding to the problem is that the sun is almost always directly in the eyes of the drivers headed towards that split. On days when the road is wet or snow covered, it's blinding.
Still, to the town's credit, what used to take 20-30 minutes to get through now only takes 5 as people have figured out the traffic pattern and know what they're doing now. It's helped curb the frequency of line jumpers too.
Anyway, this morning I get on the expressway and I'm at the ass end of a line of cars moving into the backup. I toy with the idea of passing the van in front of me, but I figure there's no point as I'll be right in front of him in line instead of right behind him. Who cares?
So we hit the backup, which is longer than normal, and I'm the last car in line. We come to a complete stop, which is not out of the ordinary. But the van had hit his brakes suddenly, so I'm a bit closer to him than I would have preferred. I look up in my rear view mirror to see what other traffic is coming and I see a silver car coming at me in my lane. It's moving.
I watch it getting closer and closer and I realize it's not stopping and the driver has their head down. I'm fucked. I'm too close to the van in front of me to do shit and there's no time left. I quickly thought about the damage he'd do and my chances of getting out of this without injury. I figured my odds were ok since I was way up front, I'd be getting his from behind, the van in front of my wasn't a static object and had some give to it, etc.
All of a sudden, the guy looks up. He spins his steering wheel and slams on his brakes. Meanwhile, the van in front of me edged forward a bit. I stepped on the gas just enough to move forward and off to the right about a foot. The dude behind me went fishtailing to the left and just missed going into my car. I mean justmissed.
He then slid into the concrete barrier and stopped perfectly parallel to it but facing the wrong direction. As I drove away I saw that he had hit the concrete barrier and fucked up the front right part of his car.
I would have stopped to check on him, but he seemed fine although scared, and because of how he stopped and his car was positioned, traffic didn't slow down. Where he was is a 5 lane area, and there's no hope of stopping without shutting down a lane or running across all that traffic. Both options would be dangerous.
So while I drove away with that odd guilt you get when you get through something like that, I realized I never went into panic mode, my heart rate never increased, etc. I'll bet that dude's was pumping. I was apparently in total "ok this is going to happen" mode and didn't sweat it.
I also found my wallet this morning that had been missing for 2 days, so...lucky day?
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| Post Number: 2
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GORDON
90%
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 36125
Joined: Jun. 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 27 2016,07:32 |
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Yeah, leave the panicking for bitches and environmentalists.
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I don't give a fuck!
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| Post Number: 3
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Leisher
Top 3%, yo.
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 26651
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 27 2016,09:41 |
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I was going to add a line like: As Gordon would put it, "I faced death and didn't break a sweat. nbd."
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| Post Number: 4
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GORDON
90%
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 36125
Joined: Jun. 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 27 2016,10:39 |
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Absolutely fucking right.
A couple times in my life I have been in flat spins in my Trans Am in the snow, and the entire time I am thinking clearly about how I had no control and hoped I didn't hit a sign or something.
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I don't give a fuck!
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| Post Number: 5
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TheCatt
Top 2%
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 22951
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 27 2016,11:08 |
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Many years ago friends and I were driving through Detroit after a night out, in the snow. We were fine, but another car crossed over, lost control and hit us.
We ended up getting spun around and around, and wound up facing the wrong way on the interstate.
Friend (driving): Alright, I'm good, let's go.
Me: NO! BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!
Friend: What?
ME: BACK THE FUCK UP
Friend looks up and see 18 wheeler in our lane coming right for us, slams it into reverse...
We ended up fine. The police took 2 hours to come out. Yay Detroit!
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It's not me, it's someone else.
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| Post Number: 6
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Malcolm
I disagree.
Group: Privateers
Posts: 27168
Joined: May 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 27 2016,11:15 |
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I've almost died so many times in a car I've lost count.
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Diogenes of Sinope:
"It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
"Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends in order to save them."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC:
"Better dead than smeg."
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