I'll preface the story I'm going to tell by stating that our pain has been assuaged a bit by VT slamming Duke and winning the ACC tourney. Also by the fact that I won't have to actually see Coach "K" anymore when watching UNC or VT play Duke. I'm not a Duke fan.
So... my wife and I are enjoying the drive to Raleigh (RaLAY as James was saying at the show I've heard) on a sunny day; conversations about work, past DT shows, vacation plans this year, and other things are happening as usual. Nothing out of the ordinary... other than this weird feeling that my wife confesses to having from time to time over the course of the drive.
We were running a bit late due to work keeping us from leaving home, and I'd let Hef know that we wouldn't make the DT USA meet up at The Pit in Raleigh prior to 6PM when it was scheduled to end... though we were still going to try and have dinner at The Pit prior to the show (we would likely have made it by 6:20, so we would have had time to eat).
Just outside of Mebane NC, we were in the 5th lane of a 6-lane stretch of I-40 running with traffic (no cruise at this point; I'd estimate 75mph with me controlling speed) just driving forward; then we were spinning. I'm guessing at least three spins with the other car spinning along side of us attached to our running boards with our vehicle slightly raised (nose of the other vehicle under what remained of my rear rim and tire driver's side). After the last spin, our cars separated and we were skidding T-bone style down I-40 (Driver's side facing the forward like we were being pushed T-bone on the passenger side); the only thing I remember trying to do was turn into our skid. We corrected facing into traffic and stopped; the other car slammed into the concrete divider on the driver's side and continued down I-40 in the far-left emergency lane for about a quarter-mile. We were facing into traffic, stopped in the 6th lane (far left passing lane).
I clearly remember seeing the faces of the other drivers that we were facing; thankfully, everyone stopped. This was roughly 5PM on a Friday and all six lanes were moving, but there was plenty of packed traffic. The driver immediately facing me got out and checked on us; first thing he said to me was "she was driving like a fu*king maniac! Are you OK man?" So this driver, as well as another driver in another lane, as well as a county Sheriff (who did not have jurisdiction but saw the initial aggressive move by the other driver), all gave statements about what happened to the trooper on-scene. This is why I know what happened, because everything happened behind us and happened so quickly, that I didn't see anything in my side mirrors except a blur prior to beginning the spins.
The other driver made a very fast, very aggressive move from the second lane, crossed the third and forth lanes, and mashed the gas to try and pass all the traffic (I'm making an assumption here as to why she would be crossing two lanes aggressively and cutting-off other drivers, including the two drivers that gave statements). The issue was that she didn't see us in that fifth lane when she mashed the gas, so she overcorrected trying to avoid rear-ending us and trying to get into the sixth lane; when she overcorrected, the car fish-tailed and slammed side-ways into the concrete divider, then ping-ponged into us on the driver's side right at my rear door. Our running boards deflated her front tire; the impact deflated my rear tire and the front portion of her car went underneath my rear rim as the tire was gone (so we lifted a bit and my rim settled on her hood). This must have been why our cars stayed together through the spins; I guess that her forward motion caused our cars to separate leaving us T-bone style and skidding. Truly a miracle that we didn't flip (I've been through that before unfortunately).
We praise God that we're alive, and unhurt; and we praise God that the other driver is alive and unhurt (she walked away just like we did). The insurance company badly (badly) wants to total my 4Runner... I guess we'll see what happens. Because of the eyewitness statements, and the fact that I was staying in my lane and not changing lanes, the other driver's insurance is accepting liability.
One other item... this happened 25-years to the day after my first and only other crash (flipped my 94 Grand Am coming back from an AAU Basketball tourney with three other players in the car; no seatbelts; all of us walked away).
It actually helped to write that out. I'd also bet that she is a Duke fan.
Topic: On the way to RaLAY... (Read 1455 times)
