blue72 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Short story: Avoided an idiot in a Chrysler, wound up facing the wrong direction on Main St. in my Z. Longer story: Apparently in an attempt to enliven my morning commute, another motorist decided to test my reaction speed this morning. I decided to drive my Z this morning, and was in the right most lane of two which travel in the same direction. My morning commute takes me on a freeway overpass complete with on and off-ramps, each with their own signal lights. I was traveling East and another motorist in a Chrysler Crossfire happened to be exiting the freeway from the northbound direction. We both approached the same intersection (with a green light in my favor, red for him) and I was jauntily motoring at the speed limit of 45 mph when he decided not to look and instead pull out into the lane I was currently occupying. Lucky for me there weren't any other cars immediately to my left or behind me. I had to swerve sharply into the left lane to avoid hitting him. I attempted to correct my maneuver by steering my car straight again, but my inertia instead carried the back of the vehicle around 180 degrees. I wound up halfway in the left lane and the shared left turning lane facing oncoming traffic. It happened so quickly that I hadn't had time to put both feet in and stalled the engine. There hadn't been any contact between our cars, and he had pulled off the the side of the road. Adrenaline hadn't kicked in either so I just started my car back up, drove down the shared left turn, pulled a u-ie and parked behind him. Since I was still calm I just got out and told him to look next time. He apologized a couple of times, but I left it at that. I'm sure it left enough of an impression on him that he'd be quite shook up. So that was my excitement for the morning. If the rain doesn't wash away my skid marks (it was dry this morning) I'll go back and take a picture of them. I've never had to do any sort of maneuver like that before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun723 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Some people really need to wake up!! Glad everything turned out ok! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Nice reaction, glad your Z came out okay. Just wondering, what wheels and tires do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Good save! Do you drive with your lights on? I find that my headlights earn me about 40% more respect from other drivers. They pull out in front of me much less when I am approaching them. Even when they see me, they give me more distance. I think the lights make it look like I am approaching faster than I am, and they wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Challenger Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 I had to swerve sharply into the left lane to avoid hitting him. I attempted to correct my maneuver by steering my car straight again, but my inertia instead carried the back of the vehicle around 180 degrees Inertia carried the vehicle around = overcorrected... haha Glad everythings ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoov100 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 A little more throttle control and you coulda saved it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zx 2by2 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 The drift king gives you a 0 for losing the drift... ONE MOA TIYME!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue72 Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 No! Sensei Dorikin I can do better! I've got some 14" meshies with Falken Ziex 195-60-R14s on all corners. Good idea with the lights too, thanks. I assumed that I somehow over-corrected, but I'm still trying to figure the whole thing out in my head. For some reason I don't think I watched the spin so I'm not even sure which direction the car went. Either I swerved left, then right then left again and lost the back end, or it was only left, right, tail spin. I do know that I felt the weight of the car shifting from one side to the other and that I had my foot on or near the brake pedal at some point but that my other foot stayed off the clutch the whole time. I also remember being surprised to find myself facing the wrong way though. I didn't even feel the car spinning. Something terribly exciting happened (luckily not serious) and all I got was this lousy t-shirt and no tangible memories of it. It'd be great if there were any racing/driving schools closer to me. I've never had the chance to learn any good vehicle control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieBird Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Good save! Do you drive with your lights on? I find that my headlights earn me about 40% more respect from other drivers. They pull out in front of me much less when I am approaching them. Even when they see me, they give me more distance. I think the lights make it look like I am approaching faster than I am, and they wait. Interesting...I never thought of this..Going to try tomarrow Glad everything was safe though Oh, and got pics of the skid marks Blue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoov100 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 get good at the DDR game, it ill teach you some good eye-foot coordination and will up you reaction time XP by three points! (you probably tried to straiten it back out and it snapped around on you) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue72 Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 Hmph, no pics of the skid marks because they are already gone (it rained most of the day yesterday and its a busy road). I figure that I swerved left, corrected too far to the right, felt the weight of the car shift back to the left hand side and spun clockwise then rolled backward until I was part way in the shared left turn lane. I think. Gotta break out the Logitech G25 and racing sims to get some practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoov100 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 The question i have for you, is why didnt you notice the car ahead of time? I make it a habit to keep my eye on the cars at/coming to the intersection to see if they are going to stop and prepare my action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue72 Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 I actually was keeping an eye on him. I anticipated that something like that might happen and knew that no one was in the left lane. That was why I was so surprised to find myself backward as I didn't think my maneuvering had been that serious. I think I was just planning on giving him the stink eye or something to that effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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