Extremely lucky to be alive...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jul 23, 2016
Messages
1,356
Location
Europe
The wife & I are just starting one of our regular, long holidays in South Africa. I picked up a relatively new Toyota Etios rental car at Cape Town airport.

I'm driving along the N2 motorway. Everything is just fine & dandy. South Africans drive us the left like us Brits, so no confusion there. The conditions aren't great (the roads are wet from a bit of fine rain) but not bad. I'm in the overtaking lane doing a steady 80-100 kph.

Suddenly I'm aware the car parallel to me, on the inside lane, is heading broadside into me. I suspect I was in his blind spot, he wants to overtake but he doesn't know I'm there.

I swerve to the right to avoid being hit. Immediately I know I'm in big trouble! I turn the wheel left and it's like I've massively overcorrected and am swerving back into all of the traffic. I turn the wheel to correct again and the swerve right is very violent. I'm now off the road, onto the central reservation (a flat, grassy patch of land) and skidding, out of control, straight into two lanes of oncoming traffic and there's absolutely bugger all I can do about it!

BOOM! I hit a van. The car spins 360° and stops, half on the road, half on the central reservation. I'm alive. The wife's alive. I get out & open the wife's door and she gets out. The van I hit is on it's side some way up the road. The front of my car is a horribly mangled mess!

Almost immediately the cavalry arrive. Strangers helping us. The police, ambulances, a fire truck too (although nothing's on fire). South Africans really are the nicest, kindest of people. After an hour, a replacement rental car arrives (thank you First) and we continue on our merry way with just a few cuts and bruises.

So BITOGers! I'm been driving for 40 years and nothing remotely like this has ever happened before. It felt there was this massive, heavy, swinging pendulum attached to the front of my car. What happened and what should I have done differently??? I should add that all this happened in a matter of seconds and all rational thought stopped functioning almost immediately but even so, any thoughts???
 
Last edited:
Incredible story...so glad you both are ok. Sounds like at that point you either swerve for be hit by other car and sent god knows where. Not sure what else could have been done. Again, glad everyone is ok.
 
Last edited:
Lucky! The front of the car crumbled like it's supposed to. Hope you don't have any lasting effects.
 
The tyres were in near perfect nick. I always check rentals before I accept them because in the past I've had a couple of issues. In fact, judging by the state of the interior, the car couldn't have been that old.

The Etios is however a car built specifically for emerging markets so wouldn't come with stuff like Electronic Stability Control which is now mandatory in the UK. Glad that the front did it's job and absorbed most of the energy of the impact.

Interestingly, none of the air bags deployed. Not sure if this was due to how the car got whacked.

PS - the wife is developing the most magnificent black eye I've ever seen. I'd post a photo but she'd kill me if I did!
 
Last edited:
Thank God you and your wife are OK. That was one heavy impact.

I'm guessing the other driver abruptly changed lanes sans signalling that caught you unawares. Nothing much you or anyone else can do in that situation from a defensive driving standpoint. It's easy for me to say brake, horn and steer gently but that would be second guessing without knowing the complete situation. It usually takes 10 minutes or so of moderate to heavy rain to wash the oils off the road so maybe that was a contributing factor.

Again, glad you're OK.
 
It was likely a combination of a third-world-country car's engineering, not very good tires, and wet conditions.

Originally Posted By: SonofJoe

So BITOGers! I'm been driving for 40 years and nothing remotely like this has ever happened before. It felt there was this massive, heavy, swinging pendulum attached to the front of my car. What happened and what should I have done differently??? I should add that all this happened in a matter of seconds and all rational thought stopped functioning almost immediately but even so, any thoughts???



What I'd do differently is move over if possible, but don't swerve out of the way. Let them hit you, it's their fault. I have a dash cam running at all times, and take it with me when traveling. If someone wants to scrape the side of my car while driving, go for it. I️ have a video showing me in my Lane.

But all of this is easy to say when I wasn't in the situation

Glad to hear you guys are ok.
 
Silk,

Apologies for the poor photography but the photo above shows both carriageways of the N2. If you look closely, you can see the skid marks I made in the mud.

It also looks like I might have taken out a couple of the wooden posts which were laughably supposed to act as a crash barrier!

The ambulance you can see in the distance is just in front of the van I collided with. One of the guys had a bad head cut, which bled a lot, but they told me he was basically going to be okay.
 
Last edited:
Most drivers have no experience behind the wheel when the car is sliding. Steering into a slide may not come naturally to someone that's never experience anything like that. Most often you will steer where your look and that usually ends up with someone looking the other way and making the skid or slide worse and turning a slide into a spin and maybe turning over.

At least now you've had your accident and survived without any obvious injuries other than your wife's shiner. That's good news.

Next time you get a rental car find a large gravel covered area and ...........
 
You survived,right?
banana2.gif

That is all that matters.
 
Modern car safety is amazing.

So glad that you are both OK.

Spent my formative years in Toranas (Vauxhaul Vivas, extended to take the local straight 6), playing in pine forests.

But a couple of the driving books that I've read state that when you realise that you have zero control, jam the brakse on as hard as you can. Locked wheels straighten out your trajectoy, and ensure that whatever happens is at the slowest possible speed.
 
Bloody tourists, they cause mayhem on our roads too.

Cars crossing over into oncoming traffic is a big worry for both parties...my biggest fear on a motorcycle. Also someone changing lanes on me. Like Shannow my early years were spent out of control on gravel roads, in rear wheel drive cars. I don't feel that safe pushing a fwd car as hard...although the Volvo has me impressed with fwd.
 
Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
If you look closely, you can see the skid marks I made in the mud.


I'm sure there are a few more skid marks but no photos of those needed.

But seriously, glad you made it!
 
Shannow,

It's funny but throughout the entire accident, I have zero recollection as to what my right foot was doing and I keep asking myself 'was I actually braking?'. I suspect once I was on the central reservation I was pressing as hard as I could on the brake pedal, the wheels were locked solid but was simply skidding on wet mud.

Whatever happened, whether I did or didn't brake, in retrospect, the timing of the collision couldn't have been any more perfect with the front section of the car taking the entire force of the impact. A second later and it might have been a full side-on shunt and the outcome not quite so jolly.
 
Originally Posted By: CharlieBauer
Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
If you look closely, you can see the skid marks I made in the mud.


I'm sure there are a few more skid marks but no photos of those needed.

But seriously, glad you made it!



Lol! My driving may not have been perfect but I consider that my bowels held up rather well, all things considered!
 
Joe, I'm very happy to hear that you and your wife are fine, and that they looked after you well. I find the South African people are very good to their guests.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top