F**king kids!

[mjb]

I'm shaking.

On the way home from work just, I was coming round a dark bend in the Newcastle ring road, 40mph, trying to look forwards through the rain to see where the back of the queue for the island starts. I spot a nob (A4 ) in my mirror zooming up behind me, probably doing about 60-70 given the speed he was catching me. I look at the mirror to make sure he's braking in time to avoid hitting me

Then out of my peripheral vision I see the silhouette of a kid in my headlamps, about 4 foot tall dressed in black with a hood, running across the road about 20 foot in front of me. I wouldn't have got my foot on the brake in time (and the A4 would have just pushed me forwards he was so close), so knowing there wasn't anything in my way swerved violently to avoid him. I'd have swerved anyway I think

Fishtailed a bit, but got out of the way and kept the same pressure on the accelerator to avoid a spin.

Given his size I'd have hit him and likely killed him.

ffs wtf was he thinking running across the darkest part of a fast road like that? there's a f*cking crossing 10 yards away!

i'm still shaking

Has anyone been in a similar near miss? What did you do to calm the nerves and restore confidence in driving?

I had another pedestrian dressed in black cross the road near me later in the drive somewhere better lit, and I couldn't see her until she was a couple of feet from my lane, so I KNOW there's no way I could have anticipated the little twat, but that doesn't seem much of a consolation right now

[HimBigChief]

I used to find that if your car had a loud exhaust, then they wouldn't bother crossing in front of you as they'd assume you were speeding!

Well avoided anyway, although it may have taught the little sh!t a lesson as they'll just keep doing it until they get knocked over one day. Stupid thing is, if you had hit him, you'd be the one going to court charged with either Careless Driving or Driving without Due Care and Attention, that is assuming he survived. Otherwise you're looking at Causing Death by Careless Driving.

I think you took the best course of action there in avoiding them. Have some whiskey to calm your nerves!

Finally, what happened to the Audi then? Did they have to swerve aswell or were they far enough behind for the kid to have crossed 'safely' already?

[steve_earwig]

Mate of mine had a kid vault a fence and dash out in front of his bike, he ended up dragging the little bugger down the road by the gearchange embedded in his leg. They claimed hugely off of his insurance because they always find for kids, he didn't get done for dangerous driving though.

All you can do is drive slower with respect for the conditions and keep your eye out. I've been driving like this a lot lately, the roads are awful, I still have idiots queuing up behind me but I figure if they can't stop I need a new back bumper abyway.

[Doggy]

Know just how you feel Matt. Had one a good few years ago on the A1. Just got back up to cruising speed after I think the A64 roundabout, (as it was then), when some idiot decides to dash across to the central reservation. This on a slight left hand bend with him hidden by a truck in the inside lane until I'm almost on top of him. Luckily it was dry & I got away with braking violently & going as near to the truck as I dared - think I'd have hit the truck if he hadn't swerved left as well.
I was on a training course in Billingham at the time & was still shaking when I got to the hotel.

It's obviously good advice to take it easy & drive sensibly according to the conditions, but a little bit of me is also grateful for having learned better car control than is absolutely necessary, as you clearly have from your account of the incident. Relax & be grateful you had the combination of skill, experience and good luck to miss the stupid sod

[Welly]

Young = no experience, no fear.

Me = think twice then act

[DaiRees]

I nearly took out 2 thick wimmin years ago with my Talbot Solara, 15+ years ago actually. Early hours, pissistantly raining, and they were both dressed in black coats with their hoods up . Just stepped out to cross the road without even looking up. Slammed the anchors on and promptly locked up all 4 wheels. I can still vividly picture their gawping gormless faces as I slid narrowly past them. Stupid bitches!

[mjb]

Well I've broken my rule of "no alcohol on school nights", but at least I've stopped shaking now

I used to find that if your car had a loud exhaust, then they wouldn't bother crossing in front of you as they'd assume you were speeding!

V6 with a shitty center/rear exhaust that cost a total of about £50 brand new and needed bending to fit. It's LOUD

Finally, what happened to the Audi then? Did they have to swerve aswell or were they far enough behind for the kid to have crossed 'safely' already?

Didn't even brake or swerve - he actually overtook me while I had the back end wiggling around - and I was holding speed!

[teamster1975]

Thank christ for your reactions Matt. Some people shouldn't be allowed to step out the front door let alone cross a road.

[eoin27]

Well done Matt. Excellent piece of driving there.

Last year I was doing about 65 in my first D9 HDi on a straight, bad Irish country road. My mate was tipping along behind me at the same speed in his scrote GTi. We were coming up to a parked van where my mate's brother was waiting for us on the other side of the road. Suddenly a dog came running out onto the middle of the road. I checked my rear-view, mate was about 100m behind me. Couldn't swerve. I was going too fast and I was approaching the parked van. Slapped on the anchors and put it into 3rd, then 2nd in quick succesion. My mate anchored hard too. Too late. The dog cracked off my bumper. Hard. Smashed the fog lights, lower grille, cracked the support on the front of the bumper and the bumperwas wallowing around like jelly. Not to mention a nice dose of the dogs sh!t was on the bumper. On closer inspection, I warped the radiator chasis and did a nice bit of damage overall.

I was delighted. I was 23 at the time. A few years ago, i would have put the foot down on the brake and lost control of the car. It was a good experience to know that I could handle myself in a quick bind like that. So, in hindsight Matt, you should be delighted with yourself mate!

And the stupid mutt survived too.

[STALLED]

Happened to me a few weeks ago...Was a "Oh sh*t" moment!

Was driving along the Warringah Freeway (M1) and a Jerry Can rolled out into my lane from the hard shoulder. I was doing a steady 80kph with an unmarked police car behind me! Ended up hitting the brakes fairly hard, but not to the point the ABS kicked in and managed to swerve around it into the breakdown lane! The police officer behind me didn't see it until the last minute and ended up slamming on his brakes...causing a chain reaction behind him of cars locking it up - so surprized that nobody got rear ended there!

Who knows what would of happened if it were full of petrol and I had hit it

[neildavies]

About 16 years ago, a friend of mine was learning to drive in his Fiesta with his father in the passenger seat. A boy came out of a junction (intending to go straight acoss the road). The bike went under the car and the boy went over. He ended up with a fractured skull.

The boy made a full recovery in the end and my mate ended up having to repair his Fiesta himself. Allthough we always thought the boy's parents should have offered to cover the repairs, they never did.

[mjb]

Who knows what would of happened if it were full of petrol and I had hit it

Not a lot I suspect, maybe a bit of flaming if some hit the exhaust, certainly not the movie-style explosion you're thinking of