It's taken me a good 24 hours recovery time to talk about it.
I was on a business trip, had a meeting in St. Pete. Took my time the entire trip on all these back roads, really pushing for good mileage. I get across to the coast and merged onto the interstate. Got up to speed...... 70 was the limit, I was in the right lane of a three lane and everyone was buzzing by in the left two. Best guess is that I was about 72 mph when it happened............
I'm still in the right lane as I'm taking the next exit. I see the left two lanes are pretty full and there is a rather large heavy equipment hauler in the middle lane going slower. Most are going around the left side to pass, I start slowing down because I see a pickup and trailer combo on the right shoulder that was was broken down and it's occupants standing beside the roadway. "this doesn't look good" I thought.......I no sooner started to brake and the large semi hauler decided to turn right into my path and continue over to the shoulder. I don't mean he tried to merge into my lane..... he made a freaking right hand turn and completely blocked my path. The front brakes tried despairately to slow me down, but that combined with some steering input had the front tires howling in protest and I was rapidly running out of room. If I continued on my path, he was going to drive right over the top of me or I would slam into the side of his cab or trailer and that would have been devistating. I modulated the brakes and steered in between the broken down truck and the semi and went off the right shoulder. I start down hill and immediately into deeper sand.... got to drive through this..... down on the throttle, counter steer and keep the momentum...... now parallel to the semi and still at speed but way down low by the trees...... now back up the hill and on to the emergency lane. The real kicker is that late the night before, I lacerated my elbow while remove an oxygen sensor and really should have gone to the hospital for 5 or 6 stiches. Did I do that? No.... doctored myself up and finished the 02 sensor job and drove to the meeting in the morning. I can't bend my right arm or the wound could open.... so I'm doing this with a stiff arm. Of course I roll down the window and give him the obligatory salute.
It literally looked like the original Smokey and the Bandit movie when he goes off road and takes out the row of mailboxes. The car is unscathed, except for some flat spotting of the tires. Same with me, underwear intact. I was pretty cool thoughout the whole episode having had so much seat time on racetracks, but afterward I was able to reflect on just how badly this scenerio could have been. I firmly believe an average driver would have plowed directly into the side of the semi or lost it as soon as going off the shoulder. This Honda Accord didn't have anti-lock brakes, they were an option. The tires are skinny and short, the car is fairly light, gets good mileage..... all those things don't add much confidence in an avoidance manouver. Had I been driving the TransAm, the thing that I would have been more worried about was getting plowed from the rear by someone else not being able to stop in time.
The only reason I really decided to share this episode is after reading about another person's experience when street racing, I decided to share this in the hopes that people recognize that things like this happen even when you aren't racing. The best advice I can give someone is to spend a couple grand on a competetive driving school like Skip Barber or similar. After that, get some track time where you can practice driving a car at it's adhesion limits. It will probably save your life. It saved mine...... twice.
I was on a business trip, had a meeting in St. Pete. Took my time the entire trip on all these back roads, really pushing for good mileage. I get across to the coast and merged onto the interstate. Got up to speed...... 70 was the limit, I was in the right lane of a three lane and everyone was buzzing by in the left two. Best guess is that I was about 72 mph when it happened............
I'm still in the right lane as I'm taking the next exit. I see the left two lanes are pretty full and there is a rather large heavy equipment hauler in the middle lane going slower. Most are going around the left side to pass, I start slowing down because I see a pickup and trailer combo on the right shoulder that was was broken down and it's occupants standing beside the roadway. "this doesn't look good" I thought.......I no sooner started to brake and the large semi hauler decided to turn right into my path and continue over to the shoulder. I don't mean he tried to merge into my lane..... he made a freaking right hand turn and completely blocked my path. The front brakes tried despairately to slow me down, but that combined with some steering input had the front tires howling in protest and I was rapidly running out of room. If I continued on my path, he was going to drive right over the top of me or I would slam into the side of his cab or trailer and that would have been devistating. I modulated the brakes and steered in between the broken down truck and the semi and went off the right shoulder. I start down hill and immediately into deeper sand.... got to drive through this..... down on the throttle, counter steer and keep the momentum...... now parallel to the semi and still at speed but way down low by the trees...... now back up the hill and on to the emergency lane. The real kicker is that late the night before, I lacerated my elbow while remove an oxygen sensor and really should have gone to the hospital for 5 or 6 stiches. Did I do that? No.... doctored myself up and finished the 02 sensor job and drove to the meeting in the morning. I can't bend my right arm or the wound could open.... so I'm doing this with a stiff arm. Of course I roll down the window and give him the obligatory salute.
It literally looked like the original Smokey and the Bandit movie when he goes off road and takes out the row of mailboxes. The car is unscathed, except for some flat spotting of the tires. Same with me, underwear intact. I was pretty cool thoughout the whole episode having had so much seat time on racetracks, but afterward I was able to reflect on just how badly this scenerio could have been. I firmly believe an average driver would have plowed directly into the side of the semi or lost it as soon as going off the shoulder. This Honda Accord didn't have anti-lock brakes, they were an option. The tires are skinny and short, the car is fairly light, gets good mileage..... all those things don't add much confidence in an avoidance manouver. Had I been driving the TransAm, the thing that I would have been more worried about was getting plowed from the rear by someone else not being able to stop in time.
The only reason I really decided to share this episode is after reading about another person's experience when street racing, I decided to share this in the hopes that people recognize that things like this happen even when you aren't racing. The best advice I can give someone is to spend a couple grand on a competetive driving school like Skip Barber or similar. After that, get some track time where you can practice driving a car at it's adhesion limits. It will probably save your life. It saved mine...... twice.
I thought driving between Richmond and DC on I-95 was hell (driving to Kerm's) I must say it appears that area even tops that infamous stretch 
Comment