Trip through the median on Thanksgiving day!!!!

[shenandoah24]

On Thanksgiving day I was cruising down the interstate at like 80 mph and all of the sudden a minivan was headed right for me. They had blown out a tire and were taking a trip across the median...Very scary. They took out the car that was right in front of me. So I had to do some quick thinking to get away from this huge mess. I decided to take the median...ugh. Luckily it was only a slight downhill trip to the bottom of the median, but when I got to where I thought I was safe, there was another car headed right for me. I guess they were looking at the wreck happening, hit a little loose gravel on the shoulder and lost control. So, here I am, still in the median traveling at about 45 MPH because I had not had sufficient time to get stopped and I have another car headed right for me.....I knew that my VIbe was going to bite the dust any minute..so I did something I have never done before...I pulled the emergency brake to get stopped....boy did that suck!!! I turned a complete 360 and came to a screeching halt. I almost p***ed my pants. After all of the chaos (which felt like hours and was actually only a few seconds) had ended, a cop pulled up behind me. I thought-oh great I have made it through all of this and now I'm getting a ticket!!!!! After I had time to catch my breath, and collect my thoughts I looked all around me and I was completely surrounded by cars...and I was still in the median!!!! The cop pulled up right behind me because it was the only place that he could get closest to the whole clusterf***. Out of the 12 cars that were in that median, mine was the only one that had not sustained ANY dmamge at all. The cop complimented me on my driving technique and then said he liked my car. Luckily nobody was hurt, just a few dinged cars. I thank God for watching over me at that very minute and I thank Pontiac for a car that handled so well in a desperate situation and whoever manufactured that emergency brake!!!!!! I have never been through anything like that in my entire life....and I DID NOT get a ticket Drive Safe!!!

[robodog61]

Congratulations on no injuries to yourself or your car. You were lucky.

[Fast Eddie]

Wow, glad to hear everyone and your Vibe are safe. This must be a sign that G_d likes the Pontiac Vibe too.

[gregoire]

Ummm... if you weren't doing 80 mph, you probably never would have met the median at all. I'm assuming that 80 is over the speed limit in your state. you should have been ticketed, eh?and you put "drive safe" at the bottom of your post! I guess you need to follow your own advice.

[microELVIS]

Well safe and legal are two different aspects. Everyone speeds I dont care what anyone says. 80mph may be technically illegal but it is not neccessarily unsafe. Many of the 400 series highways in ontario are made for speeds which exceed 130km/hr or 81 Mphr. I know that the main roads in the US are very well made. So if she was driving at 80mph, in not overly amount of traffic or traffic but following, doesnt always make it unsafe.She may very well have not met the median at 60mphr, but then again there may not have been a choice. If anything driving 55mphr in 80 Mphr traffic would be unsafe. I wasnt there when the accident happened. As long as cars are made to go faster then the posted limit, they will be driven faster. Doesnt matter if you are a rookie or mario andretti. At least we know there are some good drivers out there, which means we can all be good drivers if we so choose to do so. but just an opinion.
[Modified by microELVIS, 8:34 PM 12/5/2002]

[shenandoah24]

The speed limit was 70 mph, but I think that i would have met the median if I was going 30mph. The vehicle heading toward me was completely out of control. But I agree that I need to take my own advice and drive a little safer, but I also don;t think that I was driving unsafe at the point of the accident. It was one of those rare occasions when a traffic accident is really nobody's fault...the minivan blew a tire, nobody could help that. Sure if they would have checked the air pressure in their tires prior to leaving the house, maybe that could've avoided, but it could have been a faulty tire. And does everybody check their tire pressure as often as they should??? And that blown tire was the catalyst for the entire fiasco. So my message still stands, I am grateful to have not been in a serious accident, and DRIVE SAFE.