Near miss

[MarkJ]

There I was, on the M23, in the middle lane doing 60ish, overtaking a truck. An old wreck sped past me in the outside lane and I saw its nearside rear wheel trim come off and bounce and spin towards me. I couldn’t do an emergency stop (too much traffic behind), couldn’t dodge (both lanes occupied and anyway, a swerve at 60 in a m/h is not advised) so all I could do was hope.

Fortunately the bounce took it under the front bumper where the gearbox smashed it into 10,000 pieces, but it was a scary moment.

Only plastic, I know, but hard plastic at 60 mph is going to make a mess if it hits the wrong thing.

 

[Minisorella]

Phew, lucky escape! There aren't many bits of the M23 where you can do more than 50 at the moment with all the upgrading going on, so I can likely picture where you were. The fast lane is full of frustrated numpties, catapulting themselves free of the roadworks :rolleyes2:


By the way, it wasn't me! My car's not an old wreck, even if I am :lol-049:

 

[molly 2]

Smart motorways can be dangerous as it takes time for for lane closure to kick in,I was following a truck doing about 50 in the left hand lane when he suddenly changed lanes revealing a Brocken down truck in front of me , also a truck too close behind me , I avoided a collision ,I am now very cautious on smart motorway especially following HGV when they overtake and leave you very little space behind them . stay safe stay well back .

 

[caledonia]

I wasn’t so lucky on the M8 passing an artic pulling and ejector trailer when a large stone shot out from the back wheels and destroyed my windscreen. Lucky it never hit bodywork I suppose.

 

[trevskoda]

Hate them plastic caps,should be banned,first thing i ditch on any car i have had.

 

[oppy]

Smart motorways can be dangerous as it takes time for for lane closure to kick in,I was following a truck doing about 50 in the left hand lane when he suddenly changed lanes revealing a Brocken down truck in front of me , also a truck too close behind me , I avoided a collision ,I am now very cautious on smart motorway especially following HGV when they overtake and leave you very little space behind them . stay safe stay well back .

The problem with leaving a large gap is that there is always some daft prat who will squeeze in, or if you are approaching an exit ramp, some eejit doing a good 15 amps in the outer lane will test your reactions by zooming through the gap. That said though, I always leave a good vehicles distance , unless of course we are crawling along

 

[Obanboy666]

Hate them plastic caps,should be banned,first thing i ditch on any car i have had.

3 x heavy duty cable ties stop them flying off, never lost one in god knows how many years.

 

[antiquesam]

My whole van is kept together with cable ties. I have no idea what people did before they were invented.

 

[trevskoda]

3 x heavy duty cable ties stop them flying off, never lost one in god knows how many years.

Still dont like or see any point for them,bit like carpet in cars,i would far rather have pull out washable rubber mats,to much shiny useless crap & twiddly things in cars and vans these days.

 

[ricc]

sometimes wonder what planet vehicle designers are on. the heater controls on my xtrail are push buttons and an lcd screen , immpossible to adjust the heater without peering at the screen, youve got to pull over and stop to make any adjustments, the old switches and levers you could do by feel without taking eyes from road.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

I can do better than that, We were sitting in a service having dinner when an Audi pulled up and reversed into the front of us,, he didn't see the van in amongst all the open space he said.
I leapt out to stop him driving off and inspect but nothing done except to his vanity. He did apologise though. Beware of WHITE AUDIS, they are as bad as BMW drivers.

 

[daygoboy]

Still dont like or see any point for them,bit like carpet in cars,i would far rather have pull out washable rubber mats,to much shiny useless crap & twiddly things in to days cars and vans these days.

I know what you mean Trev. but when a bit of water gets under a rubber mat it never
dries out, sweats, and b4 long the dreaded rust starts. At least with grubby carpets there's a
chance to dry out especially if you have the porous easy dry type,and not a bit of
woolly Axminster, ie something like could be found in Granny's lounge with jute underlay!

 

[daygoboy]

When I first started driving at 17 Morris Minors were still around in numbers, they had
a penchant for not only losing a hubcap occasionally, but also at times would shed a rear wheel.
Twice I witnessed this, the second time it was right in front of me @ 50mph I couldn't
make my mind up whether to overtake the bloody thing as it trundled along
for 100s of yards or wait for it to stop, even went round a gentle curve, had a mind
of its own!

 

[oppy]

I can do better than that, We were sitting in a service having dinner when an Audi pulled up and reversed into the front of us,, he didn't see the van in amongst all the open space he said.
I leapt out to stop him driving off and inspect but nothing done except to his vanity. He did apologise though. Beware of WHITE AUDIS, they are as bad as BMW drivers.

And myopic Volvo ones too

 

[trevskoda]

sometimes wonder what planet vehicle designers are on. the heater controls on my xtrail are push buttons and an lcd screen , immpossible to adjust the heater without peering at the screen, youve got to pull over and stop to make any adjustments, the old switches and levers you could do by feel without taking eyes from road.

A heater you say,what a luxury.

 

[mark61]

Hit an Owl a few years ago in France. Light as a few feathers but left a bit of a mess. Part of the rad took on the shape of an owls face.

 

[colinm]

sometimes wonder what planet vehicle designers are on. the heater controls on my xtrail are push buttons and an lcd screen , immpossible to adjust the heater without peering at the screen, youve got to pull over and stop to make any adjustments, the old switches and levers you could do by feel without taking eyes from road.

heater controls! I guess you mean the 'climate control centre', best bet is once set up leave well alone.

 

[molly 2]

Am I the only person that has never had a wheel trim come off ? No cable ties , all OEM trims snapped on properly ???

 

[colinm]

Am I the only person that has never had a wheel trim come off ? No cable ties , all OEM trims snapped on properly ???

Possibly, with one of our old Astra's that gf drove it was like a exchange program around here, she would always be stopping and picking up trims to replace the ones that came off her car. Vauxhall sold them with different styles depending on trim level so she didn't always have a matching set.

 

[phillybarbour]

Good to hear no real damage.