Driving home from a movie, it was around 12:30am. For some reason I decided to slow down at the intersection despite the fact I had a green light. A BMW barrelled through the red light. This was at CHB and Nose Hill.
Just by sheer coincidence, there was a cop car at the Esso/TH. He saw what happened and immediately turned on his lights and pulled the BMW over.
On second thought maybe that wasn't a coincidence lol.
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If you don't pass this sig to ten of your friends, you will become an Oilers fan.
It was hard to explain to other people what it was like, except that it was probably similar to what your clothes feel like in the washing machine.
Ahh, the old washing machine feeling. I’ve been there and the most recent time had me thinking my number was up. I got caught under a small waterfall and got washing machined for quite awhile. Thankfully, the river gods let me go. It must have been my good karma following all of my bootie beers.
A couple that come to mind, both of them I should have know better.
First one was driving home from our Grade 12 grad party which was at a farm about 30 miles out of town. That was mistake number 1 and number 2 - I was tired after being up all night and should not have been driving to begin with anyhow. I fell asleep and we hit the ditch at highway speed. Luckily we went in a shallow angle and there were no culverts, approaches etc. so I was able to steer out and continue home, albeit pretty shaken up.
Second time was at a drilling site. We had a new drill collar hot shotted out to us and the 3/4 truck that delivered it only had a small picker arm rather than what a regular picker truck would have. So we had to try and get it across a bunch of drill pipe and onto the catwalk. The picker arm was so short it really could not get the collar far enough over and it hung up on some of the pipe. Stupid me went over to try and unsnag it and when it did it swung around and hit me in the chest. Drill collars weigh a few thousand pounds for those who may not know it so it rocked me pretty hard. Fortunately is was more of a glancing blow rather than direct, and also fortunate it was not to my head. So ended up a little sore but no worse for the wear.
New Years Eve party, back in the young and dumb days.
Mixed a few too many drinks and party favours.
Went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face as I was getting dizzy and feeling a little "off", my legs gave out on me, then my arms, then my voice. Luckily a friend had heard me call for help, and was able to get into the bathroom, however at this point, I was full on immobile, the worst part, I was completely coherent. I could see and hear at what seemed to be a heightened level, but was unable to respond in any way.
It got worse, friend went to get more help, by the time others arrived to see what was up, I'd now moved on to a full out of body experience, I was literally looking down on myself, and the people gathering around me from the ceiling. I just remember freaking out, watching people try to get a response from me, and seeing my body just laying there, while I was screaming out in fear in my head.
Paramedics arrived, stretchered me out, and got to work on me in the ambulance, I was still completely aware of my surroundings, but unable to have any response. One paramedic dug his elbow into my sternum, while the other pinched my toe nails to the point that they were black for weeks following, I could sense the pain, but couldn't react, then I was out, not actually sure what happened after that.
Woke up the next day at PLC, checked myself out and took the train home.
I owe my life to those friends that reacted properly in a terrible situation.
Happy to say that was the end of my "Experimenting" days
first was when i was in my 20s doing construction. we were moving trusses into place on the top of a 4 story condo building. the way we got around was by walking the exterior walls - good thing i'm not afraid of heights. it had been raining all day and we had this huge truss and were moving it into position to stand up (at this point we still had it sideways). becuz of where i was, i had to walk backwards (no biggie) except my foot was a little too close to the edge of the wall and becuz it was wet my foot slipped off the wall and over i went. some how the steel toe of my other boot hooked on the end of the truss i had been holding onto - so there i was, hanging off the side of a 4 story building by my steel toe (and we weren't using any safety lines at the time). the other guys ran over and immediately pulled me back up. i wanted to keep working but i smoked my knee pretty bad and had to stay on the floor for a few days until it felt better.
the second close call was about 8 years ago. my wife and i had gone to calgary for our tenth anniversary. on our trip home we were about half way between golden and revelstoke and as i was coming up to a bend in the road and in the on-coming lane a semi with a flat deck was coming around the bend. i guess there was a wheel rim on his deck that wasn't secured and it flew off right in front of me. we were both going around 90km/hr so the rim hit me pretty hard. it hit my skid plate, took out my right drivers tire, went back, took out my gas tank, rear drivers tire and then shot over and took out my rear passenger tire which put me into the craziest skid i've ever been in in my life. thankfully there were no cars super close in the on-coming lane and i was able to reestablish control and get to the side of the road.
as sucky as that was, after i got my truck back from the shop my wife gave me the green light to start doing a bunch of more expensive mods i had been wanting to do to the truck!
Spoiler!
the rim that flew off the deck of the semi...
the tire tracks from the skid i was in (the tow truck driver saw them and couldn't understand how i didn't roll)
and my truck on the side of the road (thankfully my truck is lifted, otherwise the rim would have gone into my truck, not under it)
and then all fixed up...
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
The Following User Says Thank You to bc-chris For This Useful Post:
Coming back from Calgary after Thanksgiving this past October I was driving through Grindrod Southbound at about 1:30ish am and a Semi decides he's going to cheat the corner I guess and I see him about halfway in my lane as I'm turning, he keeps encroaching so I panic and turn into the incoming lane to avoid certain death. I'm unable to keep myself on the road so I hit the ditch and narrowly miss a pretty sizeable tree, absolutely murdered my brand new tires I had just put on (And basically the entire front end) rolling through the bushes. I sit there for about 30 mins in total shock before walking up to the road to get my bearings and give the police/tow driver an idea of where I am, I notice there's a police car about a km down the road at the fas gas station with lights on. I learn later from the tow driver that ANOTHER guy had been driven off the road just before me. Anyway, the Jeep is undriveable so I get picked up from sicamous by my aunt and uncle the next day, spent the entire night kind of just staring at the wall minus about an hour of sleep. We're listening to the radio and apparently a bus got run off the road outside of Revelstoke about an hour after I had (So presumably the same ####ing Semi driver)
In Huntington Beach around 2015, I see a bird really high up in the sky. I watched in amazement at how high it was when I noticed something dropping from it, thinking maybe it was an eagle dropping its catch. The catch narrowly missed my face, instead hitting my mother in law on the side of her head, shoulder and hand. She smelled like rotten fish the rest of the day.
The Following User Says Thank You to Nage Waza For This Useful Post:
Years ago I was marathon training going down a huge hill in Edmonton. I was wearing ear buds so didn’t hear it but a driver going up the hill lost control of his car and it went careening downhill. It just missed me and took out a fence and a tree in a front yard. When I got back to the gym where I shower a friend asked if I had heard of the incident. Yeah, I said, I was a witness who almost died.
A friend in high school pointed a loaded .22 at me, not knowing it was loaded, he was aiming at my head and then over my shoulder and pulled the trigger. Pew! I may have peed a little.
A friend in high school pointed a loaded .22 at me, not knowing it was loaded, he was aiming at my head and then over my shoulder and pulled the trigger. Pew! I may have peed a little.
did you beat him half to death.
When I got done with basic training, where gun safety was drilled into me. I went home for a few days and me and my dad went out to visit my uncle and my cousin on the farm.
We decided to do some target shooting out by the grain bins. After I got done shooting, I checked the rifle, made sure it was empty, handed it to my cousin and me and my dad went behind the grain bins to have a smoke. We came back around the far side and my cousin was sitting there with a big grin on his face aiming the rifle in me and my dads area. The target's were 90 degress the other way. I walked over and took the rifle, the safety was on but there was a round chambered. I lost it and punched him square in the face and then left and went to a bar in town for the rest of the day. I was told by my uncle that I should apologize for punching him and I refused. I told him that I didn't give a errr poop. Aiming a rifle with a chambered round even with the safety on is just asking for something to go wrong.
After that I refused to go shooting with them when I was invited.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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3 years ago no I was driving from Ontario to BC. The plan was to go see the ocean and then come back. Just past Kamloops is a little town called Savona and just before Savona is a rest stop, so I rested there a bit and went up the mountain, saw what I thought were horses but when I looked closer, they were a family of bears.
Anyway after the rest stop (complete with the sign warning of rattlesnakes) there are some bends with cliffs off to the side. I went off of one of them, jumped a barbed wire fence (apparently), through a field, and then down the other side. I assumed I had fallen asleep but I have no recollection of this.
I got a good ways down the cliff before a tree stopped me and destroyed my car. It looked like my head hit the windshield but I have no recollection of that and my whole face was bleeding so it was hard to tell.
I called 911 while my horn was blaring and was telling the dispatcher that I was going to try to climb up. He told me not to and I explained that a)I'm a big guy and his ambulance drivers aren't carrying me up that hill) and b)there are bears and rattlesnakes in the area. He tells me not to worry, that my horn going off would scare the animals away.
And precisely at that moment my horn died. The cliff was steep so I had to climb up sideways but I got up and saw the ambulance looking for me so I waved them over. All i ended up with were stitches and I was out of the hospital within a few hours.
When the police officer came to the hospital to confirm I wasn't on drugs or had been drinking, she told me I didn't understand how lucky I was. Not only did the tree keep me from going all the way down, but the cliff on the bend right before I went off was straight down to the bottom and I wouldn't have had a chance.
1) About 5 years ago I was in a 21 car pileup on Highway 1 near Langdon (I had message live from an ambulance we were huddled into on this message board). When my car hit the ditch I saw people out walking around, so I started to get out. I then thought better of it and got back in and put my seat-belt on. 30 seconds later a half-tonne above me on the shoulder got hit at full speed and propelled into the back of my vehicle. It came to a stop about where I would likely have been standing.
2) Just yesterday I was walking out Telus Spark with my 4 year old. We were walking through the parking lot to our vehicle. There was a car that was running, but did not have their reverse lights on. As we walked 2 feet behind the car went into reverse and immediately started backing up. I pulled my two year old out of the way as the car nearly smacked him. The lady had a look of shock on her face when she saw us. Obviously just slammed it in reverse and started backing up without looking. Glad I was holding his hand and the dad reflexes kicked in. I should have reamed her out, but that look of shock on her face told me she would probably be thinking about it for awhile. My wife probably would have gone Mamma-bear on her if it had been her. It is a place with lots of kids all leaving at closing time. You have to have situational awareness enough to know that there will be lots of people walking with kids in the parking lot.
I always look for the backup lights in parking lots, but now i am going to be extra cautious around any running vehicle.
1) New Years day morning 2018 there was a really thick fog patch on Deerfoot, when I hit it visibility went to almost 0. I braked just in time to avoid hitting a multi-car pileup right in front of me. Multiple vehicles then came flying up behind me, at least 2 swerved to miss and went off the road.
It was particularly frightening for me since my kids were in the back row seats in my mini-van, so if someone had plowed into us they would have been right there.
2) Around 3 years ago I was at the intersection of 16th and Deerfoot. Two cars in front of me had a near miss. Thankfully I backed off a bit, since a few moments later, as I was starting to accelerate to merge onto Deerfoot, one of those cars pulled in front of the other, slammed on his brakes to make the other car stop, then got out of his car to start yelling. Luckily there was no one in the other lane so I was able to swerve around, or that guy would have been toast.
First, in the late 70s/early 80s, I was a small boy. Our doorbell rang and I answered the door. A tall younger man was at the door and asked if my mom or dad were home. I turned and yelled "Mom!" who was upstairs. She ran down and asked me who was at the door. I turned back to the doorway and there was no one there. I stepped out of the door, and I could see the guy running away full speed, half a block away. My mom then gave me a big hug, but it wasn't until a few years later that I realized the gravity of the situation.
Second, driving home with the family from vacation in Kelowna. I passed a large semi about 5 minutes before Golden. Just before entering Golden, you crest a small hill and at the bottom is a traffic light. When I crested the hill, the light was red, and traffic was backed up far enough that I had to slow down pretty quickly. About 10 seconds later, I hear a rumble to my right, and see the semi that I had passed skidding to a stop half in the shoulder, half off the road entirely. It came to rest about 20 feet in front of us. The light turned green, and we continued our journey home without incident.
I am reasonably certain a guy was attempting to kidnap me in the parking lot north of the Golden Gate Bridge when I was 10.
Did he look like this guy?
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"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think." Georg Hegel
“To generalize is to be an idiot.” William Blake
When I was 16 and still living on the farm, I was coming home early one morning at about 12:30 - 1am and I was driving my dads 1973 GMC pickup. This was back before the mandatory seatbelt days and this truck didn't even have any. I was going down a gravel road...too fast...and hit a rut and lost control on the gravel. Went into the ditch and rolled the truck. Woke up outside of the vehicle, noticed my wrist was sliced but not bleeding to badly but I otherwise felt ok. Being about 6 miles from home, I had to walk to a neighbors house which was about a mile or so from where I was. Made it there and woke them up. He looked at me and said "you need to go to the hospital". I said no and asked them if he could give me a ride home, which he did. Once I got home I had to go wake up my parents (which might have been the most terrifying part of the whole night) and after I woke them they were all in a panic and said we need to go to the hospital. By then my leg is starting to hurt a bit and thats when I realized how bad the damage was to it. I must have been in some serious shock because my leg was a mess, what I had thought in my mind was sweat from walking was actually blood running down my leg. After a trip to the ER at the closest hospital (our town doesn't have a hospital) and emergency operations on my leg/knee I later figured out that I must have been thrown out through the windshield knee first as they picked 37 pieces of glass out of my knee and leg. Unfortunately '73 GM trucks also do not have safety glass either. I had to have a follow up operation 6 months later to remove a few more pieces of glass that was missed first time around as well. I still have pretty bad scars on my knee and leg from that one. That was about 30 years ago.
I was in another car rollover when I was 19, I was a passenger, not the driver. There were three of us in the car, no one was hurt but still scary none the less. Although that too involved about a one mile walk to the nearest farm.
Mount Baldy has a 20m long stretch that is pretty narrow that you have to walk across. Big crosswind blew in as I was halfway across and I lost my balance and started to fall off the cliff. It’s at least 200m straight down. My buddy behind me caught me by the collar just as I started slipping off the cliff. If he wasn’t there I’m dead.
