What's your close call?

[Red Squirrel]

Completed the circuit to 4 500w flood lights from arm to arm. Yeah, I let go that thing so FAST I doubt a full AC phase even had time to complete. Never trust someone else's wiring when they tell you something is grounded.

Technically I should of died from that. Was way more then 1 amp.

 

[James Bond]

Went in a car with three friends, knowing that they were drunk.

Flew off a ramp of snow at 50 and [the car] went completely airborn for over 10 feet (untouched snow).

One of the only moments in my life that I'm really, really embarrassed about. Just so fucking stupid.

 

[quackagator]

Got run over by my own truck, Went the length of my body and just missed my head.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: darkxshade
Twice in the game of Russian Roulette:

The first time, I loaded a revolver with all 6 bullets, pointed the gun at myself and pulled the trigger.
The second time, I loaded a desert eagle with a full mag, pointed the gun at myself and pulled the trigger with the safety off.

A poster after my own heart

As for me, i survived 2 exploding space shuttles w/o a scratch.
i wanted to visit outer space but didnt have the $20M to buy a ticket. so i snuck aboard. THe 1st time I was onboard the Challenger. THe 2nd time i was onboard the Columbia.

Originally posted by: lxskllr
When I was young I was crossing a busy road, and miscounted the lanes. I thought I was clear, and took off running. I slammed into the side of a car which was going about 40mph.

thought only dumb animals ran into the side of moving cars? oh wait...

 

[JulesMaximus]

Once, a guy kicked a bucket near me and it almost hit me in the mouth...that's as close as I've come to biting a bucket. :shocked:

 

[IronWing]

I was walking in Reno and this dude dressed all in black was just staring at me with weirdest expression, like he was laughing at some internal joke but cold as death at the same time. I crossed into Sparks and he just turned and walked down the line.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Once, a guy kicked a bucket near me and it almost hit me in the mouth...that's as close as I've come to biting a bucket. :shocked:

bit the bucket... kicked the bucket

same thing. bit the bucket is just a more new wave take.

like you'd say, "bit the dust"


anyways.... you buckethead Jules :laugh:

 

[DVad3r]

Polish translation of rally driver, not all the exact text but:

Driver: Oh uh, fuck, we're alive.

Some other guy: Everything alright?

My closest call with death was me + my bicycle vs a Volvo. Got lucky and fractured collarbone in 3 spots only.

 

[brtspears2]

Driving late at night on the highway, in lane #2 of a 6 lane highway. Some guy spun out, car pointing wrong way and was hanging out in the middle of the highway walking around the car. Dark highway, driving at about 70 mph, around a slow curve. Thought the car was on other side of traffic. Quickly came to realize nope, slam on brakes, move into lane #1, floor it to not get rear ended, and return back to lane #2. I would have destroyed myself and the other guy.

 

[Mojoed]

Riding my bike after a rainstorm when I was 19 or 20. I was going down a hill about ~25mph and my front tire exploded. I flipped over the bars and slid at least 30 feet on my left hip/leg across the center of the road. I was wearing shorts too. These were the pre-helmet days.

The Jeep coming the opposite way nearly wrecked trying to avoid me. I ended up about 2' from the rear tire of the Jeep Wrangler when everything came to a stop. Didn't even notice my injuries for a good 60 seconds, as I was too preoccupied thinking about how close I came to dying.

Another time in 1985 I was riding my bike doing my paper route. A couple of older kids wielding baseball bats jumped out from behind a car. I got hit in the ribs and went flying off my bike over the guardrail and down a very steep grade. To add insult to injury, they threw my bike over the rail too and just missed me. I was really lucky overall though. Couldn't figure out how I missed all the huge rocks on the way down. I was ok other than sore ribs and a scraped elbow/arm.

 

[meltdown75]

Ever almost bit the bucket?

several times.

 

[CKent]

I got into pretty much the same accident as in that video, except without the headseeking tree branch. I was a dumb kid doing 100+ mph on back roads for "fun". I lost it around a turn doing 110 or 120 mph, the car turned 180 degrees as I slid and scored a direct hit on a small tree (though big enough to stop me) going backwards. The back of the car was pancaked right up to the backs of the front seats. The airbags didn't even deploy since there was no rapid forward-moving deceleration. I was fine, the cop who showed up was just kinda like ":Q Are you sure you don't want me to call an ambulance? Yes but are you sure? Are you sure... are you sure..." My neck was sore for a couple of days and that was my only injury.

 

[Bibble]

When I was a kid I put a large metal marble in my mouth and it wound up caught in my throat. I managed to cough it up though. Also, when I was in 3rd grade I choked when I tried to swallow 3 dunkin munchkins at the same time. Again, I somehow managed to get it back up and wound up spitting a bunch of nasty chewed up doughnut on the playground.

Since these incidents I've learnt not to put foreign objects in my mouth and to chew my food better.

 

[coldmeat]

The closest is when I was young I was driving with my dad on the highway going about 90kph and the guy in the car behind us hit us and we went spinning off the road and luckily stopped in the ditch before we hit the rock wall. Totaled the truck.

 

[ViviTheMage]

that was faaaaaaaaaaaast

 

[ElFenix]

riding my bike to jr high one morning, i was in the middle of the right hand lane of a boulevard with 2 lanes each direction. i saw some people up ahead i didn't want to deal with, so i decided to pass them wide. i looked over my left shoulder and didn't see anything. so i turned the bike left and WHAM suddenly i was standing on my feet without my bike and my vision coming back from complete black. i'd run into the side of a car speeding by. if she hadn't been speeding she probably would have hit me.

 

[buck]

Almost drowned a couple of times, got slammed on my head to the point where I went into convulsions. The last one I had to go to the hospital, i dont remember that night at all.... Was kind of fucked up.

 

[Colt45]

A few narrow misses car crash wise... almost drowned once.. that's about it.

 

[liluqt]

7th grade, worked at my parents restaurant where it was just the 4 of us. Brother was sleeping in the back, mom was in the bathroom, and my dad was kneeling on the ground emptying oil from the deep fryer.

A guy came in, placed an order for fried chicken wings, then pulled out a gun on me. Luckily, the counter door was locked and it was an annoying latch so he couldn't easily open it. I ran inside to get the "keys" to the register, he fired 6 shots through our kitchen door, missing my mom, and then ran away.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: lxskllr
While walking next to a highway, I had a flatbed truck lock up it's brakes and slide past me in a cloud of smoke.

I had a runaway truck come within 4' of where I was standing. It took out a 10" pump, and went into the river.

I slipped off a bridge form, and caught myself with 2" to spare of having a piece of rebar go through my neck.

I was 12' down in a hole without a hardhat, and crane swung it's boom around, and snagged a length of 5/8" cable and it fell on my head.

When I was young I was crossing a busy road, and miscounted the lanes. I thought I was clear, and took off running. I slammed into the side of a car which was going about 40mph.

I've seen many people die in construction accidents. I hate it...it fucks up production...

The worst I was ever personally involved in was (as a young dumb apprentice) I was running a small hydraulic crane with the carpenters putting up forms. Not far away, a crew was rigging in the boom for a BIG crane. (250+ tons) When they had it all rigged in, the operator boomed it up and swung it over me. About that time, the boom folded in half and it came crashing down on the crane I was operating.
Turns out, the ironworkers had been out drinking the night before and somehow missed adding in a penant cable to the mid-section of the boom. (large support cables)

It took the emergency crews about 4 hours to cut the boom sections away so the paramedics could get to me, and then cut me free so they could transport me to the hospital.

Overall, I came out of it pretty well. Broken arm, couple of broken ribs, concussion, minor lacerations and abrasions. One of the carpenters I was working with was killed instantly.

While in Vietnam, I was shot at rather frequently. (the bastards!) I experienced a few close calls, (nasty sounding "bees" when the bullets start flying close) but only one hit. I took a small piece of shrapnel in my left knee. Motherfucker knocked my feet out from under me like I had been hit by a truck.
Corpsman dug out the shrapnel, cleaned it, threw some stitches in it...and off we went. We didn't get back to "civilization" for 2 more weeks...but we accomplished what we set out to do...and the knee healed just fine.

so you sued, got a few $M, and retired early?!

if not, WHY NOT?

 

[Sea Moose]

When i was an apprentice i was yacking on the mobile whilst doing electrical testing.

I was not paying attention and the back of my hand brushed up against a 240V live wire. Knocked me on my arse.

And when i was a little kid apparently i fell out of a yacht and nearly drowned. i cant remember it though

 

[VTrider]

Once while in college, A couple of friends and I decided to go on a short popular hike with a great 'view' - a rocky outcropping of ledge which dropped about 300 feet to a rocky debris field. Decided it would be a good idea to bring a cheap 'box of wine' (note: not a good idea). After imbibing my share of wine, picked up my camera to take a picture of my friends - oh, too close - step backward, still too close, step backward again - mind you I was looking through the lens walking back toward the cliff. I stopped when I saw my friends face turn white at which point I got this 'sick feeling' in my gut, lowered the camera and looked at my feet, my heels were about 2 inches from the cliff - almost walked off to my death.

Hanging out on a beach in Puerto Rico when I was 12yrs old, decided to walk to the 'other' beach which wasn't so crowded. I didn't read or speak spanish that well, but you would think that the multitude of signs posted on the beach with a picture of a stick figure being thrown around in a giant wave surround by a 'no sign' would give me some clue - nope. Jumped right in the ocean thinking that this beach was all mine! I was immediately thrown upside down like in a washing machine and when I tried to get back to shore, the riptide / current pulled me back into the ocean - this repeated about 3 times until by chance I was thrown back onto a shallow part of the beach - manage to crawl to safety - almost drowned which was really scary.

 

[NesuD]

Lost control of my car in an ice storm (driving to fast for conditions still kick myself now and then) T-boned myself on a concrete bridge railing. Snapped my neck. Still don't know how i managed to live through that one. No permanent paralysis either.

Dad was a diemaker. Saw 2 of his coworkers at different times in the 50's and 60's get crushed in die presses. Still can't understand why people can't take 5 seconds to use the lockout functions.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: freesia39
The hubs (at the time BF) and I were driving near downtown LA, trying to find the Macy's furniture outlet. We weren't that familiar with the area and this was way before GPS became popular. We were trying to read street signs when I went "HEY RED LIGHT STOP!"

The hubs stopped the car (mine at the time 98 Honda Civic) as he sees a Ford Explorer come barrelling through the intersection. I would have been mushed.

i went with a PM on a service job to support programming at a remote site way out in bfe. the guy driving was busy trying to see a quad for sale on the side of the road and didnt notice traffic in front of him stopped. so i said "you may want to stop" and he jammed on the brakes. we were in a f150, there was a smaller car like a honda or something directly in front of us. would have been ugly if he hadnt stopped, we were doing 60ish and she was at a complete stop. this was last thursday.

ive had many close calls, including being shot at. nothing more sobering than a bullet hole in a wall 8" from your face. im just glad those aholes were very bad shots.

 

[Miramonti]

Probably my closest was in 8th grade. I crashed my bicycle in the road and as my face hit the pavement I saw a car's rear tire fly by my nose .