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Near miss with a vehicle on the wrong side of the road
PepperPlant
Posts: 197 Forum Member
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The other day I was on a 50mph road about 8pm (so it was dark). There weren't street lamps on that part of the road, but I was only going about 30mph as there was still snow/ice at the sides of the road.
I saw two pairs of headlights in the distance, and as they got closer I realised one was on my side of the road. I don't remember exactly what happened but I was forced to swerve onto the wrong side of the road to avoid them, and then swerve back onto the correct side to make sure I avoided the oncoming car that was on the correct side.
I got the impression the car remained on the wrong side of the road as it continued past me, although it was difficult to be sure as it all happened quickly. I certainly didn't get the impression that they were overtaking and intending to go back onto the correct side - it seemed that they didn't realise they were on the wrong side. Perhaps they thought it was a dual carriageway, but given that there are no other roads in sight it would be strange to have a dual carriageway in one direction with none in the other.
I slowed down and the person in the other oncoming car slowed down too. We wound down our windows and she asked if I was ok and commented that the other person was on the wrong side.
Anyway the main reason I'm posting is because it left me quite shaken up - I didn't have time to process anything about the other car but my car is fairly small and it is frightening to think what would have happened if I hadn't managed to get out of the way in time (or if they had also swerved at the last moment). I wouldn't have been surprised if the vehicle had crashed into the next person further down the road, but thankfully I can't find any reports of incidents on that road on the day it happened.
Has anyone else experienced something like this?
I saw two pairs of headlights in the distance, and as they got closer I realised one was on my side of the road. I don't remember exactly what happened but I was forced to swerve onto the wrong side of the road to avoid them, and then swerve back onto the correct side to make sure I avoided the oncoming car that was on the correct side.
I got the impression the car remained on the wrong side of the road as it continued past me, although it was difficult to be sure as it all happened quickly. I certainly didn't get the impression that they were overtaking and intending to go back onto the correct side - it seemed that they didn't realise they were on the wrong side. Perhaps they thought it was a dual carriageway, but given that there are no other roads in sight it would be strange to have a dual carriageway in one direction with none in the other.
I slowed down and the person in the other oncoming car slowed down too. We wound down our windows and she asked if I was ok and commented that the other person was on the wrong side.
Anyway the main reason I'm posting is because it left me quite shaken up - I didn't have time to process anything about the other car but my car is fairly small and it is frightening to think what would have happened if I hadn't managed to get out of the way in time (or if they had also swerved at the last moment). I wouldn't have been surprised if the vehicle had crashed into the next person further down the road, but thankfully I can't find any reports of incidents on that road on the day it happened.
Has anyone else experienced something like this?
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That was my first thought, but you would have thought that seeing the other cars would have alerted them?
This guy did and it was in broad daylight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AgJ7bTcdjU
(It wasn't foreign plated either)
No foreign plate, but I don't think it is a coincidence that this happened in Folkestone, probably see the same in reverse over in Calais.
I've also noticed an alarming trend in non compliance with traffic lights - it's almost an epidemic near me. I've seen so many 'near misses' recently. Cameras might be an idea on ALL major traffic junctions to help prevent people driving through a red light usually at high speed.
More police patrols around spotting this dangerous driving would be preferable though. Trouble is, they're virtually invisible these days allowing this type of thing to go on unchallenged. This is probably because they're bogged down in nonsensical bureaucracy when they would be better utilised outside on the roads and streets to arrest and charge these idiotic drivers.
It happened to me once, but I was the one in the wrong.
In the early 80s an American friend with benefits, knowing that I was visiting a mutual friend in NYC, called me to say that she'd landed a gig as a blackjack dealer on a Caribbean cruise ship, and if I wanted it, she'd leave me a ticket to Nassau, Bahamas at JFK, and I could meet her at the Churchill hotel.
I couldn't get there quick enough, and upon landing I rented an Oldsmobile Cutlass, which naturally was LHD.
I drove out of the parking lot and headed for Pearl Street, Nassau, on the right hand side of the road.
Imagine my surprise when I encountered a car coming toward me, on MY side of the road, followed by 2 or 3 more.
The Bahamas, being an ex British colony, drove on the left, the same as the U.K., but imported almost all their cars from the U.S., which were of course LHD.
Fortunately I made it to the hotel, AND had a free cruise to San Juan, St. Croix, and Sint Maarten, before taking a seaplane ride to the Port of Miami then back to London.
Pepper - That was a one-off, just as yours will be a one-off, so bear that in mind and forget about it next time you go for a drive.
*cough* humblebrag *cough*
It's very difficult to turn left onto that roundabout so the driver must have known something wasn't right, perhaps he/she was half cut.
At night I was confronted, on a blind corner, with a big Rover SD1 (it was in the 80s) driving at high speed with no lights on, overtaking another car - I almost had an involuntary evacuation. We presumed he was on the run from the cops.
In the Vendee region of France, we were staying at a camp site in a quiet area, I was going for milk and bread in the morning and pulled out of the camp site on to a long straight road and must have driven for about a mile on the left before I met another vehicle, fortunately I realised long before we met head on.
Just googled that.
We once visited the Bahamas on a cruise ship and went on a tour of the island in an old opensided bus. The Americans on board were having heart attacks and screaming," we're on the wrong side."
hire car, maybe?
This sort of thing happens all the time on Skye and probably in other high tourist areas
Does that mean that she was collecting wellfare?
No she wasn't, and it's welfare, not wellfare
I think that you know what it means, but in case you don't, Google meaning of friends with benefits.
Calm down I was just kidding.
I basically had two cars coming straight at me and there was nothing I could do but try to slow down as fast as possible while staying as far to the left as possible.
I was pretty sure at that moment I was going to die. I felt strangely calm about the whole thing.
Somehow, there was just enough space for the three cars and they both shot past me without colliding.
I actually did that one day, somehow missed the turn I was meant to take and found myself on the wrong side. Luckily nothing was coming on the slip road.
Had a lorry try to overtake on a bad bend on the road last week with me coming the opposite direction. Life definitely flashed before eyes.
Cars on wrong side of road still set of panic attacks.
The car in front of me swerved over, hit a car coming the other way and one of them smashed into me.
Now got 4 years left on a 5 year car loan.
Mr White we need to talk