What’s your scariest ‘near miss’?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

2 times I nearly bought it...

1-I was hammered and was being driven home on highway...decided that it would be amazing to climb out passenger window and ride on the roof of the car.

2-Came face to face with a bear when walking the dog

WTF?! There has to be more story here!

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

What? Where is there a traffic circle on the QE2?

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Yeah I reckon he is confused.

Doh, major brain fart. I meant off ramp.

[FurnaceFace]

My story seems tame vs some others but I still think about this. Years ago my bike route to work was down the hill south of the Calgary tennis club in the beltline. At the bottom of the hill was a stop sign in my direction whereas 16 st sw is free flowing. As I was going to work early and there is very little traffic I would look at 16th as I coasted down the hill and seeing no traffic would turn left onto 16th cutting the corner to apex it. It meant I blew through the stop sign and kept my momentum so I could coast up to 14th ave where I would turn right.

An early fall morning I go down the hill and parted along 16th st is some city trailer that kind of looked like a 5th wheel RV. It had been there all week but I still followed my same procedure and ripped down the hill. This particular morning after having looked for traffic on my way down the hill, and seeing none, I apex the corner. As I do, a black VW Golf appears from the blind spot the trailer caused. In at split second I adjust my track slightly towards the trailer, miss the car, miss smoking my head into the trailer, and I’m half a block away before the gold driver honks his horn and I put up my hand in apology.

That would have ended badly. I was pretty shaken for most of the morning and still shake my head at it 15 years later. Soon after I found a different route where I avoided the hill and the stop light.

The stupid things we all do just to save a few seconds.

[Snuffleupagus]

Lost engine on approach while flight training in a Cessna 150, instructor had to ditch in a farmers field. turned out great but about 3 minutes of fear I hope I never experience again

[Trailer Fire]

I’ve had several, including getting “pushed” by a black bear, falling off a 2 storey building while roofing, massive brain damage from playing hockey, as well as GTing off course and onto the highway where I went underneath a tractor-trailer coming up the Rossland-Trail hill.

By far the most terrifying and arguably closest I came to the end was when I was camping with my dad when I was 14. He and I went to Summit Lake near Nakusp, as was our tradition. We both used belly boats (sometimes known as float tubes from what I’ve been told) and would troll around on the lake. Summit Lake is a runoff lake, so it gets cold. I enjoy cold water on a hot summer day, but it gets unbearable after a few hours so we wore neoprene chest waders. I was young, and very stupid, and would often go without a lifejacket on, despite my dad figuratively kicking my ass to wear my lifejacket. This was NOT one of those times. I was out for a few hours, fishing with little success. I was getting hungry and tired of kicking around so I went back into shore, defeated. I was maybe 15 feet or so off shore when the stitching on my seat failed. I submerged in the water, where my neoprene waders quickly filled up with a few hundred pounds of water, and down I went. My lifejacket did nothing to keep me buoyant. My old man happened to be down by the shore laying his gear out to dry when he saw me go under.

So here I am, 14 years old, with half a breath in my lungs, waders full of water, flippers sunk in the muck and silt, looking up and the sun filtering through about 10 feet of water overhead. It was almost peaceful. Nearly serene. I wasn’t panicking. In that moment my brain had accepted my fate. I was going to die. As far as I knew, no one saw me go under. I remember seeing a fish through the sediment I had kicked up, and it just kind of looked at me for a second before swimming away, and I remember thinking that little Rainbow trout is probably the last thing that was going to see me alive. The next thing I know I feel a tug on my lifejacket, and suddenly I’m able to breath again. My dad dove in, and pulled me out. He said he is sure that the only reason he got me out was because my lifejacket helped him.

I’ve gone out since, but I’ve been a lot more stringent on my pre-use inspections, and I’ve always worn my lifejacket.

[bigtmac19]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

The paternal instinct is a strange and powerful thing. I can pick out the slightest sound of my daughter over and above any noise.
And then there's just the more instinctual examples like yours, where you just sense that things are not right.
I strongly believe there is something to it, which is why as parents when our instincts tell us something is wrong or a situation is dangerous for our child - one should listen even if it seems irrational.

That never goes away either. My son was in a car accident a couple of years back. He had gone to London for a concert and he and his girlfriend were driving home late at night. I woke up about 2:45 am with a bad feeling that someone was not right, I texted him to ask where he was and not 10 minutes later my phone rang and it was him that they had been in an accident. His girlfriend fell asleep at the wheel and drove into a ditch and hit a culvert. My son had been sleeping at the time. They narrowly missed a telephone pole when they went into the ditch. He was badly bruised and needed a lot of physio after, but in general it was a good outcome. His relationship didn't fare so well - he couldn't believe she fell asleep while driving! They broke up a few months after.

[PostandIn]

Leaving Syncrude on a Friday afternoon, luckily ahead of the buses, and it’s the first snowfall of the year. Those huge wet snowflakes that greasify the road in no time, and within 10 minutes there’s noticeable slush forming on the road, making conditions pretty bad both for road adhesion and visibility. As I’m coming round by the Suncor tailings dyke (highway 63 was a different configuration then, and it was rutted from buses and heavy haulers), I see a car coming towards me and he’s losing control and fishtailing. As I try to get my speed down and start edging off the highway, he’s completely lost it and he’s swiping completely from side-to-side down the road. I get nearly off the road and into the ditch when I get smoked on the drivers side A pillar which spins me and rolls me through the ditch. 4Runner ends up on its side with the drivers side up. It’s crumpled from the A pillar to the back wheels. I was buckled in so no damage to me. I unbuckled, shouldered the door open and climbed down to the ditch. By this time a bunch of cars and some buses had stopped, and I guess I should have been more concerned than I was, because the looks of the people on the buses was that I should have been mangled. The K car that hit me was ruined, the front completely mashed in. Looking back, I’m amazed I walked away without a scratch.

Edit: because I’ve lived many years with cats, I’m certain to have been the subject of innumerable assassination attempts. Just don’t know how many and be how many hairs breadths I’ve escaped by.

[Matata]

It was dumping snow and I was going to Castle mountain for a powder day. Castle mountain is almost a 3 hour drive on a good day and got I stuck behind a snow plow, I thought the road was clear ahead and so I passed, but there was a 5 second period where I couldn't see a damn thing but snow and I easily could have gotten into a head on collision. It doesn't sound like much, but the idea I could have killed myself and several other people still haunts me.

[Russic]

The year before last I was snowboarding at Sunshine and was going through a treed area that was quite wide (as far as those areas go). I probably had a 10 foot wide area to get through, so nothing dangerous... a green run even! It was near the end of the day and my legs were at that point where they were just tired enough to fail me. I was on my heel edge but my legs were so tired my toes slowly began to drop until I dug my toes in, which sent me flying. Again, I'm not going terribly fast, but the fall turned out to be the real problem.

I hit fairly hard, but I didn't slide. I just stop dead in my tracks, face down, but slightly elevated off the ground. It happened so quickly that I didn't realize that I'd landed on top of a broken-off tree. It hit me just below the armpit, so it caught my jacket and left me completely unscathed. It wasn't big, probably about the size of a broom handle. I couldn't shake the idea that had I fallen 6" earlier (which when you're moving is probably 0.005 seconds) I would have taken it right in the throat.

It was oddly impactful. Perhaps it's having kids, or going through more loss, or just not having the ignorance of youth. It's not in the same ballpark as many of you, but I legitimately avoided snowboarding for the entirety of last year because of that feeling. The first time I went back was last weekend and it was OK. Not as fun as it used to be though. Every single run was a combination of "that would kill me... that would also kill me... oh you better believe that'd kill me".

[Ruttiger]

April 1, 2015 in Ko Samui for a friend's wedding. On a rented scooter driving through the main entertainment district on the island. Was in a head on collision with another driver. As best as I can piece it together, I most likely went over my handlebars, took the end of his handlebar straight up into my mouth into the back of my mouth and throat. Lost 4 teeth, fractured the hard palate, dislodged the soft palate, concussion, and a fair amount of road rash (Samui tattoo anyone??).

It was on a busy road and I was stunned and lost likely 15 seconds or so before I came to. Luckily some locals came and helped me off the road right away but I very easily could have been plowed into by another vehicle in the aftermath of the initial collision. This was the only time on this trip that my wife hadn't been with me - pretty thankful she wasn't involved as she was busy with the wedding rehearsal.

[Johnny199r]

I was around 10-11 I was swimming in a pool at a RV park. I started drowning. I couldn't pull myself to the surface. My friend's older brother dove in and rescued me by dragging me to the surface. I still remember the feeling of being pulled up and then gasping for air.

[Shin Pad]

When I was a kid, I shot a .22 in the house - it went through the door and just missed my dad. I was only 9 years old, and the gun rules in them days weren't like they are now. I thought the gun was unloaded.

[Incogneto]

Ever seen Open Water?

That happened to me and my wife. Adrift in the water for 2 hrs of the coast of Big Corn Island, Nicaragua. Saved by a local fishing boat from the resort on the island.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Incogneto

Ever seen Open Water?

That happened to me and my wife. Adrift in the water for 2 hrs of the coast of Big Corn Island, Nicaragua. Saved by a local fishing boat from the resort on the island.

Were there sharks? If no sharks then it’s different.

[Dion]

I was 6 years old at the time and we as a family were visiting my dads parents on their farm in Elgin Manitoba. There was a pond on the farm that my grandpa used for drinking water for his cows. My brother and I were walking in the field when we came upon the pond that was completely frozen over. Thinking it was safe to walk on I stepped on the edge of ice only to have it break. I started to slide down the bank into the water. I remember trying to grab onto something to keep me from going in but there wasn't anything. My brother grabbed the hood of my jacket and pulled me out. If it wasn't for my brother I would have drowned that day.

[FlamesFanStrandedInEDM]

Her name was Ashley...