Re: Nearly as scary as losing control of a car on the freeway...


"el Guapo" <mrtobrien@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:MPG.1e3ba6b0b96eaabb98a3c7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> which I did last year at the whopping speed of 40 mph during a snowstorm
> when the jackass in front of me slammed on his brakes for no reason, is
> when you're driving 70 mph down the freeway through the rain and the guy
> in front of you hits a massive puddle that utterly obscures your vision
> of him until you see him sliding sideways and about 15 mph slower than he
> was about 2 seconds ago.
>
> Luckily, he was sliding to the left, and I could easily steer to the
> right given the light traffic conditions. In the rearview mirror, it
> looked like he even started back toward the right before he actually hit
> the wall.
>
> Nearly getting in an accident is a hell of a rush.

Indeed it is.

Making my way through a driving early Sunday morning rainstorm in NYC, I was
on the Grand Central Parkway near Shea Stadium when the left front tire of
my Porsche hit a surprisingly deep runoff "puddle" (more like a lake). I was
in the farthest left lane, next to a concrete barrier. The left front of the
car is low enough that the water came up to the suspension, virtually
stopping it. The car immediately rotated left toward the barrier with the
rear breaking traction almost instantly. I hit the clutch and countersteered
but it was too late as the car did a complete 360 degree spin. The right
front corner just brushed the concrete barrier. As I saw I was going to spin
all the way around I grabbed a gear and pointed the car the correct way,
losing only about 15mph in the process... a good thing since there was
significant traffic behind me that I'm sure would have had a very hard time
avoiding a stopped car. There was absolutely no time to think and I was
incredibly lucky that I was in a break in traffic, that I spun all the way
around, and that my instinct to keep moving was a good one. Talk about a
rush. The car suffered only a scuffed bumper and a broken foglight.

That's as close as I ever want to come to having an accident.


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