wFrom: Bob Nelson

wtSent: September 10, 2013

Subject: You know it could have been THAT serious when your mechanic gasps and utters, "Oh, my God"

What are all of you doing going that fast, with that many lanes, and that ragged assortment of vehicles and circumstances. Come north, get away from the confusion and speed and stuff - enjoy they wonders of life in a serene setting. But, do bring your unreal luck with you. It never hurts.

Bob

wFrom: Forrest Brandt

wtSent: September 10, 2013

Subject: You know it could have been THAT serious when your mechanic gasps and utters, "Oh, my God"

New Year's Eve morning, 1993, I - 71 North: Mine was in the form of an 18-wheel Volvo diesel, pulling from the 6th lane to the fourth, just as I - sitting inside a Mazda Miata- began to pull from the third to the fourth. I looked to my left and saw an enormous tire only a foot or so from me, and then watched as the glass of my side window shattered into a million pieces that shot around the interior. The Miata began to spin right, away from the collision, when both right side tires blew, stopping the right hand spin and throwing me back across the front bumper. Fortunately the driver, seeing the puff of smoke from my tires and hearing them explode, thought his brakes had locked, began to slowly brake and pull back across two lanes to his left and onto the median. I sat staring at the grid of his radiator, less than two feet from my head, my life flashing before me-yes, that does happen-as he pushed me along like a bright red snow plow on the front of a dark blue tractor. I kept waiting for my car to flip and the truck to roll over me, alternately staring at the radiator and then at the guard rails as I "passed-in-review." He stopped, jumped down, and only when he got to the front of his rig did he realize that he had hit a car. I sat there for a good five minutes, sort of going through a pre-flight checkout, before reaching up and lowering the rag top so that I could stand up and exit the Miata. Not a single scratch. Maybe we should do a commercial for Mazda safety.

Forrest

wFrom: Frank Rogers

wtSent: September 10, 2013

Subject: You know it could have been THAT serious when your mechanic gasps and utters, "Oh, my God"

Reminds me that no matter how apologetic and cooperative the offending person appears, be sure to get any witness information to the event. The offending person will later deny everything, including saying there had not been an accident.

Frank

From: Jim White

Sent: September 10, 2013 S

ubject: You know it could have been THAT serious when your mechanic gasps and utters, "Oh, my God"

Holly,

You are indeed a very lucky lady. If something that large had gone under a wheel rather under the center of your car, it could well have caused your car to either spin or even flip and the consequences would have been much worse. I would send you my car free of charge with no shipping charges, but I don't know where it is. The last car I owned was a 1960 Falcon which I sold in 1970. I have no idea which junk yard or scrap heap it might be in by now. Not to bragging, but in 1967 or so, I had a similar problem with a car engine coming down the road straight at me. It had been on the back of a flat-bed truck coming my direction in the other lane. For some reason the truck suddenly whip-lashed, the unsecured engine fell off and momentum (plus the fact it was sliding down a slight grade) kept it coming towards me in my lane. However, I was able to slow down and get far enough on to the shoulder to let it go past.

Jim

wFrom: Holley Watts

wtSent: September 10, 2013

Subject: You know it could have been THAT serious when your mechanic gasps and utters, "Oh my God"

It was 8-30-ish, just dark and traffic volume was fairly heavy with trucks and pre-Labor Day traffic. I took what I thought would be a "shortcut" home by hopping on I-81, the four lane divided freeway that runs northeast / southwest through the Shenandoah Valley. I'd be home in less than five minutes.

I entered the freeway doing about 60 mph in a 65 zone. Within a minute or so I was up to speed and checked behind me before I changed lanes to pass the slower moving vehicle ahead of me. That's when I saw it--too late. It rolled over and rocked once before hitting me squarely in the front of my car, then became trapped under my car, grinding its way down the undercarriage, ripping it from "stem to stern." It peeled back my oil pan and forced shards up into the engine, details we later learned once we hauled it to a garage and got it up on their lift. I had NO idea what had hit me except from the sound it was metal and I'd better get off the road in case it caught fire. I pulled onto the shoulder, shut off the engine, turned on the blinkers, called for help and got out quickly! The State Trooper who responded to my call found the "thing" by following my car's trail of oil down the side of the road. It was half a tractor trailer wheel's brake drum which had apparently disintegrated sending thirty pounds (I weighed it) of the metal monster that was more than half an inch thick into the freeway's passing lane....were I was. With nowhere to turn I'd hit it straight on.

I'm telling you the details because I feel incredibly lucky to have "only" lost my car. Otherwise, I might not be here to write anything. Now I'm looking for another car. I got $2100 for my standard shift 4-door high mileage (253,876) '99 Mazda Protege. Unfortunately, the Trooper didn't get ANY info on the truck which was pulled off on the side of the freeway several hundred feet ahead. I don't know if that was the offending vehicle but thought it likely. My fault. I was pretty shook and made assumptions that the Trooper would collect info from that truck as well. Assumptions. Well, you know what that does.

If you have a small-ish car you were thinking of selling, talk to me! Sorry, Jim, in case you thought of it I doubt I could afford the shipping.

From now on I should sign my name, LTBA !!

Blessings and hugs,

Holley LTBA............ (the Lucky to be Alive" DD)

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You know it could have been THAT serious when your mechanic

gasps and utters, "Oh my God...."

September 2013

A "close to disastrous" traffic accident.

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