Kiss the wife, hug the kids
 

Amazing how quickly it can all be over, I was about 10 feet away from getting T-boned today by a car doing 70 that I couldn't even see.

This is the one time I am glad that I wasn't worrying about racing or taking a turn fast, otherwise no more Gdub, no more RX8...

I was making a left hand turn onto a major street from a freeway here in AZ, I had a truck to the left of me and I was in the middle turn lane going left. Luckily I stopped about 10 feet shy of the line (no idea why I did this, not a normal thing) and was not in any type of hurry (although I was late for work and should have been). The light turns green and I actually was focusing on how I was letting out the clutch thanks to a thread on the forum I read yesterday, I didnt punch it and was focusing on a smooth start, this kept me from certain death. As the light turns green, the truck starts going, as do I, I had absolutely no visability around him at all, but do notice him slam on his brakes, I had enough time to think "what the he.." before I nailed my brakes to stop from getting hit directly on the drivers side door by a jackass than ran a VERY ripe red light doing about 70. If I would have been 10 feet further from where I was, I would be dead now, no chance to react, no way to avoid it.

If I wouldnt have had so much adrenaline going and been trying to analyze what the hell just happened and how to make sure it never happens again, I would have chased that sucker down and beat the living sh*t out of him/her, whatever.

Just thought I'd share as it was very disconcerting that my life (and the life of the truck) was in the hands of this moron, I pride myself on being alert and having great reaction time, but if I would have done any of the things I normally do, I would be dead.

Be safe out there, and kiss the wife and kids before you leave for work.....

That was a very brutal wake up call. Glad you are alright and thanks for the advice. Makes you step back from our daily routine and treasure things we take for granted.

Wow close call. I am glad you are alright. My dad got into an accident similar to you had but luckily only his front bumper was damaged.

Gdubdub
Very luck. Glad to hear your not hurt.

I think the worst part of the story is that since he/she made it through the intersection with no problems, it will be okay to do it again. That nimrod is thinking, no harm no foul.

Yes, kiss your wife, and kids...and say a prayer (not to get too religious here).

Al

Sounds like you have excellent instincts! Trust that little voice in your head, lol, it won't lead you astray...

Unfortunately, that sorta thing is pretty much normal over here (near Trenton, NJ). You just can't go on green anymore without first waiting for the stragglers to come blowing through.

SO glad you're OK! Thanks for the wakeup call... and reminder of what's really important. Gonna go call my wife now :)

Glad it was no more than a scare. And, glad you didn't try to run him down. That often ends up badly. If he was doing 70 through a light, imagine what stunts he'd pull being chased. At worst, someone gets hurt or killed in the race (maybe bystanders). At best you might both get cited. Even if you somehow got him stopped and out of his car (difficult to do solo even for trained/armed law enforcement), and you won the fight (is the guy armed?) -- you'd probably end up being charged with assault and end up convicted and/or sued.

I always say "I love you" when one of us leaves the house.

Wow,, good for you. Glad your ok.. This is why we need better driving test in out country. we need to rate drivers by there abilitys .. not just give every tom, dick and hary a DL !!!


Drive Safe out there .

Same here -- you just never know when some idiot will claim you or your loved one's life.

true, but you could follow at a safe distance for a while and just get the plate number. then call the local cops and tell them you just witnessed a Drunk driver doing 70 mph almost kill me and another !, this will get them out there looking for his ass and pull him over...

I have done this 2 times.. works great ! at least here the C.H.P. will stop at nothing to get a drunk driver. And if he's not drunk when they pull him over ? so what they well find some reason to bust his ass.. even if you tell them he was wreckless driving.

Good lesson (on expressing love for loved ones) and thankfully no one was hurt. Confronting asswipes always seems like a better idea than it actually is, so its probably a good thing you didn't chase the car down.

GREAT FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!

This brings up memories of three things for me.

1st. I had a friend killed the same way you just missed it.

2nd. I was the second car on the right (with a 77 Rotary Pick Up) when the light turned green and for some reason I looked left a saw a PU coming at ~45. I didn't move, but the car to my left did and I got to see a overweight women bounce around inside her car as she was hit and then knocked into me. I had a bashed fender & wheel and a broken steering gear box, but OK. SHe wasn't.

3rd. I was in the fast lane in my Ford 3/4T PU and as the traffic was stopping infront of me I happened to check my mirror. Shock there was a ~2 ton truck not stopping behind me - off the brakes and dove to the cener divider - Bang and the car that was infront of my got rammed.

Now days I always look right and left when a light turns green before starting and usually drive in the left lane.

scary shit TRZ

You know, I used to treat traffic signals as if they were signalling the start of a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Yellow....increase revs to a launch velocity....green...engage! One day I was at a light about to cross a four lane (2 in each direction) highway (Rt. 2 in Concord, MA to be precise) and for some reason I bothered to look both ways before setting off. The light had been green for 2 seconds and two cars going in excess of 60mph ran the light. If I'd done my usual start I'd be dead. These days I look left and right at traffic signals before setting off. I miss those Grand Prix starts but I'd hate to check out of this world that way, T-boned by a red light running idiot.

Drive fast, but drive safely. Remember, everyone else on the road (RX-8 drivers excepted!) is a potential dangerous idiot armed with a vehicle of mass destruction. I can't count the number of times that taking that attitiude has saved me from a dangerous accident.

TRZ, sorry to hear about your friend, I always just assume that people are gonna stop at red (especially a light that was red for at least 5-6 seconds) but I will make that assumption no more.

The good side is, nothing happened and I will be way more alert and aware of what is going on

Glad you're OK. Good instinct - or luck- saved you.

I would also point out, to other posters, that driving fast, even if you're "under control" can be dangerous simply because you're closing speeds are so much greater. People don't expect you to be where you are when you're driving substantially faster than everyone else - you're essentially sneaking up on them with your greater speed.

If you're finding that when you're in traffic it seems like you're constantly being cut off by people changing lanes in front of you, you're probably driving too fast.

Fast driving is for tracks and deserted areas...

glad you're ok. couple of years back I witnessed the same incident. i wasn't driving, i was the pedestrian waiting to cross the street.

the terrible thing was that there was a bike too. that man on the motorcycle must be the luckiest sonuvab... i've ever seen: he accelerated VERY HARD SO THE CAR THAT RAN THE RED LIGHT JUST MISSED HIM!! i swear to god, i don't know where he'd be found if the car hit him... maybe a mile away...

glad your okay, i too nearly had a freak accident near my place, stupid college kids must of just finished finals or something (possibly drank some already) decided to hang a fast left hander which meant cutting thru my lane, lucky i saw this female pulling this stunt, i slammed my brakes with like 2-3 car lengths to the T-intersection and braced for impact whilst pressing the horn... for a moment the car was directly aimed at me... finally she realises she needs to haul her ass back to her lane, and she seriously missed me by a whisker... lucky she regained control... car finally passed me at a dog slow speed of like 5-10mph...

a 30-40mph front impact would of hurt my 8, possibly me if the airbag went off, but nothing as serious as your impact, but i understand your heart-pounding experience even with that small incident... i dunno wot the hell would have happened to the 4 college students in the corolla/lancer if there was a front accident... geez these ppl should know not to drive beyond their cars and their abilities, they must of thought their corolla/lancer was a rx8 or something takin that corner that fast!

becareful out there, i think this will be a crazy weekend with all these college kids finishin up finals... i seriously think they were drunk or high or just stupidly excited they finished their finals... either way, take care out there... (oh yeah, this in not a stereotype of college kids, its just my one experience... so no flames pls... just know finals are finishing up this week)

I learned my lesson on taking off from green lights the hard way. Near where I lived in college there was a freeway underpass that had a light on each side for the entrance and exit ramps. Having driven that street everyday for months I knew that it was about 14 seconds between when the light on the near side light turned green until the light on the farside turned green. I would be at the speed limit (40 mph) right at the limit line when the light changed. One day a MR2 ran the light, she was in the far lane of the cross street and a large truck was in the near lane so I didn't see her until the last second. I slammed on the brakes and T-boned her in the middle of the intersection. I still remember her looking out the driver side window with that "OH SHIT" look on her face right as the window shattered. (I was in that slow motion zone you sometimes go into in accidents). Fortunately no one was injured and I really lucked out in that the guy that was behind her on the exit stayed around and told the cops she ran the light. Ever since that time I am very cautious about entering intersections on newly green lights and always look for cross traffic before starting out from a light, if there is a vehicle that I can't see around beside me I don't pass them until clear of cross traffic lane that I can't see.

Just on a side note you mentioned practicing a clutch release you'd just read about here on the forum.....so, in a way I guess it was all of us and this site that helped you miss this near fatal accident! Thank alot RX8club.com :)

close call eh? good thing you saw the other driver braking!

similar warning for ppl living in vancouver. Oak street's notorious for ppl running reds at night. Almost got nailed similar to Gdub's situation last month, and only by remembering some biker's rule of checking intersection no matter your signal ("I had the right of way!" doesn't look too good on a tombstone!) did I see some punk in a prelude ran a 5 second red and the passenger made eye contact and gave me a big "OPS!" look.

very good post
happy to hear nothing happened to you.
remember to thank your guardian angel.

My wife was headed home from work on an otherwise uneventful day. About three blocks from work at a small intersection with a light, she had the green light and was just tooling through at about 30mph.

Just as she got to the intersection, she involuntarily did a panic stop. She involuntarily pushed-in the clutch & right foot off of the gas & hard on the brakes. Her hands came off of the steering wheel and went up in the air, like a person does when they are out of control and are out of any idea as to what to do. She came to a complete stop just a foot or two before she got into the intersection. In that very brief instant, she simply did not understand what she just did or why.

The very next brief instant consisted of seeing a red utility pickup truck flash by, just in front of her, as he ran the red light at a high rate of speed.

There was a car coming the opposite direction from my wife, waiting for my wife to go by so he could turn left. After it was over, my wife said he was still just sitting there, shaking his head in disbelief and disgust at what he almost just saw.

The time that elapsed from her tooling through at 30mph - to the red truck flashing by in front of her - was in total, about 1 second, maybe 2. These kinds of things occur as in slow motion, you know.

Guardian angel? My wife (who is a reverend) and I, most emphatically, undoubtably, agree. Thank you ..... !

Thank God for those good breaks on your car too, I am glade your ok man.

I had 2 near accidents because of stupid drivers. I was driving and the light has been green for a while for me. I was not speeding but this other car decided to turn left thinking they could make it in time. I slammed on the brakes and honked my horn. Luckily, there was no car behind me because I came to a complete stop almost.

This other stupid driver cut me off and definately did not check her blind spots. I predicted this somehow because I was watching her car and it was inching towards my lane. No car in the right lane luckily so I swerve over there when she decided to do that.

I had a very similar situation happen to me a few weeks ago. I was turning left onto Rte 50 from Rouse Rd. at a light. I had the green arrow and was the first car in line. The light went green and I was preoccupied about something so I hesitated. My wife said...."green light" and I started rolling slowly. I was turning left onto a divided hwy and was about in the middle (between median) when a car in the leftmost lane of the hwy onto which I was turning went FLYING BY! Didn't even touch the brakes and the light for her was VERY RED. I did a zoom zoom and caught up to her at the next light laying on the horn. There were two teenage girls in the Honda, one on the phone and the other looking at some directions. The driver rolled down her window and I proceeded to explain to her that she almost KILLED me and my wife! She was sorry...didn't see us or the light... The light turned green, they went straight and I made a u-turn to go back to where I needed to go. I hope I gave her a little wake up call....being in an accident is truly no fun and paying attention while driving makes all the difference.