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What's Your "Close Call" Moment ?

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by Joe Strummer, Apr 23, 2014.

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  1. Joe Strummer

    Joe Strummer VIP Whale

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    We've all had many "Close Call" moments.
    I've had so many......but the other day....I recalled
    two moments I had many years ago.
    ** Let's try to keep the INJURED "Close Calls" out of this thread.***
    .
    #1......I was standing next to a teammate who was swinging
    his bat in the "On Deck" circle.
    This bat was a "home made" lead weighted bat.
    Someone drilled it out + poured hot lead into the barrel.
    It was heavy as hell.....ALOT of solid lead in it.
    We had it around for 2 seasons........until.......
    the guy is swinging it + the lead flies OUT, so fast + far -
    JUST PASSED MY HEAD !
    The lead landed over a fence some 25 yds away !
    .
    #2.......I was in a small toyota corolla -- that was one of those
    tiny ones made in the early 70's.
    REAL SMALL.
    I was in the passenger front seat.....no seat belt, of course.
    I don't remember the "what or why" of the incident ?
    We were barrelling thru OPEN RANGE territory of northern Texas
    at 90 mph.
    Came around a bend at 90 mph + straight into a huge herd of
    beef cattle.
    They were all over the road !
    They were BIGGER than the damn small toyota !
    We zigged + zagged at that speed + somehow avoided all of them.
    It happenned so fast I wasn't even breathing.
    When we made it thru -- I always remember -- the sigh of released air
    from our mouths and we just started to both uncontrollably giggle. (?):evillaugh
    It seemed so strange of a reaction ?

    *
    Like I said....try to keep the Injured Close calls out of this thread..okay ?
    So....give me yours !
     
  2. DeMoN2318

    DeMoN2318 The DERS

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    Blew by a cop at 145mph (in a 45mph zone)...thankfully he was looking at his computer screen and didnt notice me

    Was doing doughnuts in the rain, cop pulled me over, came to my window and started talking to me, then got a call on his radio, ran back to his car, pull next to me and said "You're lucky there are stupider people than you" and he sped away.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2014
  3. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    Interesting topic. One thing I will never get out of my mind is when I was working at the airport hotel here at DFW. One of the shuttle drivers got into an accident near the off ramp of one of the terminals. Being manager on duty I had to go with security and one of the other managers to the scene to get police report info etc… (nobody was hurt). We pulled over on the shoulder of the off ramp and the shuttle and car were in the right hand lane of the airport thru-way. Not thinking I just got out of the car and started walking toward them - right across the off ramp! The other manager that was with me grabbed my arm and pulled me back as a car whizzed by going at least 50 miles an hour and missed me by literally inches. I almost threw up, I had to sit back down in the car. To this day I tell him that he certainly saved my life. Whew, I get all shaky when I even relive the experience just to write about it here!
     
  4. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Cars:

    Dented a few growing up. Had a friend roll one. What an idiot I was. Whomever had the brilliant notion to give teenage boys access to cars was a bigger idiot.


    And the Dumbest Thing I've Ever Done:

    Appendix. Blew it into a million pieces. They guess about 2-3 weeks before I finally went in, when I figured that perhaps it wasn't just the bad seafood buffet I'd had in Laughlin some time before. They effectively sawed me in half Hoovering out all the gunk. Apparently people have been known to die from this type of thing. Who knew??
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2014
  5. Breeze147

    Breeze147 Button Man

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    I've had a few:

    I was on a helicopter that crash landed.

    I had a 122mm rocket impact about 10 feet from me.

    I dove behind the jeep I was refueling as a rocket slammed into the fueling station office.

    Ducked just in time as about 20 rounds slammed into the sandbag/steel plate M-60 bunker I was manning.

    Too many close calls by mortar rounds and snipers to actually remember.

    Came this close to killing a dog handler when the foo gas barrels suddenly exploded for no reason.

    Was on an airliner, TWA, between Los Angeles and San Francisco when an engine caught fire. We landed with one engine, perfectly. Yes, it can be done.

    Was a passenger in a car that broadsided another car at 60 MPH. Everyone walked away with minor injuries.

    Probably quite a few more that I can't remember off the top of my head.
     
  6. merlin

    merlin MIA

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    Years ago my car broke down on the highway, I was about a mile from home so I walked with a bag of groceries I had just bought, it was nightime and I was about to cross the exit ramp part of the road, I looked back and saw a car but he didn't have his blinker on, I trotted to cross the ramp and as I was halfway across the car came flying by me at 50+ mph, missed me by maybe 6 inches, he never saw me til he passed and slammed on his breaks maybe 100 ft down the ramp. Boy was my heart beating!
     
  7. JosieCat

    JosieCat VIP Whale

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    Years ago, I worked in downtown St. Paul and took the bus to work every day. I was running a bit late, and was jaywalking through stopped traffic when someone yelled "STOP". I stopped, and a car whizzed by in the open lane I was just going to cross - don't have a clue how fast he was going. That person that yelled probably saved my life, and I never even found out who it was.
     
  8. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    Do I get bonus points if mine is Vegas related? When I was either 20 or 21, I was driving my newish Acura Integra to Vegas with two friends. We were on the 15 North somewhere between Jean and Vegas when my odometer was about to turn over from 9,999 to 10,000 miles, and I decided to make a big deal out of it. In an effort to move the speedometer needle off the odometer numbers, I sped up to a little over 100 mph, and just then, we came over a rise and there's the brown sedan of a Nevada Highway Patrol or State Trooper sitting in the median, waiting for an idiot exactly like me. Just like DeMoN2318's story, though, he was looking down and we zoomed right past him with no repercussions! It was already a winning trip by the time I got to Vegas.
     
  9. wpete

    wpete High-Roller

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    Back in my early Navy days I was hanging a heavy cargo about 20 feet above a metal deck. Somehow I slipped and started to fall. I immediately looked over my shoulder to see where my head was going to splat below. Reached out with my left hand and luckily found something solid to grasp. Flung my self to safety and commenced to chain smoke for the next 30 minutes.
     
  10. DeMoN2318

    DeMoN2318 The DERS

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    Aerospace Engineers FTMFW!!!!!
     
  11. Crambone

    Crambone Gnaeus Pompey Magnus

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    In 4th grade on my friends trampoline for the first time. I was jumping way too high and drifted over the edge. One of my legs got caught in between the uncovered springs and I swung around the frame just missing the ground with my head.

    Laughed my ass off as I hung upside down but shudder today at the thought of what could have been massive brain damage.
     
  12. mdee

    mdee VIP Whale

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    I drive an SUV. 3 weeks ago I was driving on a divided 4 lane road at 40 MPH when a smaller car behind me in a fit of road rage decided to pass me in the right hand lane.
    He then deliberately cuts in front of me very close to my bumper. He loses control of his vehicle, turns sideways and then goes across 2 lanes of oncoming traffic and slams
    into a wooden fence sidways. It happened in such a way that it unfolded before my eyes in slo-motion. I didn't have time to brake. Luckily he did not hit anyone. Little Punk!
     
  13. Breeze147

    Breeze147 Button Man

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    Upon further review, I meant to say 3 engines, 1 engine was shut down due to the fire.
     
  14. DeMoN2318

    DeMoN2318 The DERS

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    OEI (One Engine Inoperative) Takeoff and Landing is a FAR Part 25 requirement

    Just FYI:thumbsup:
     
  15. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Would that be car karma? Glad no one else was collected.

    It's funny, since we moved out of the bedlam that is So Cal, I'm just so calm behind the wheel. Hell, around here you can sit at a four-way for a long time because everyone is always waving everyone else to proceed. Now when I start that climb up to Thousand Oaks, and as the valley looms closer and closer, Southland Freeway Mode kicks in like second nature; go ahead, throw the Sepulveda Pass at me, bring on the 210, I'm READY!!! Conversely, coming back, the neck eases 'round Conejo and by the time the first pelican appears at Ventura, it's Zen Ken. Hell, by the time I hit the 1 I'm almost comatose.
     
  16. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    My worst car accident happened shortly after I got my license. It was late night and I was driving this shitty little Hyundai Elantra that weighed like 20 pounds. I had the radio blasting and turned to look at some hookers on the sidewalk and I slammed into a car in front of me. The entire front-end of the Hyundai came inside. The dashboard and wheel were up by my chest and face, pushing against my knees. The door was crumpled in. Luckily I had my seatbelt on. When I came to, I couldn't open the door and finally managed to push it out about one foot and had to wiggle myself out on my hands and knees. I had Ol' Dirty Bastard's Brooklyn Zoo blasting on the tape deck and it was stuck on a loop. I couldn't shut it off and I couldn't even shut the car off, so that song was blasting the entire time the cops and ambo were there.

    They told me they didn't think anyone survived in my car when they pulled up to the wreck. But I was completely unharmed. The guy I hit was unharmed too, in fact his car was some old heavy sedan and barely took any damage. He was a Hispanic priest who didn't speak much English, but after my parents came he made us all stand in a circle to pray and thank God no one was hurt.
     
  17. wpete

    wpete High-Roller

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    Probably the top 3 reasons young drivers pay high rates.
     
  18. zamboni

    zamboni VIP Whale

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    In high school a buddy pulled a handful of .22 long rifle rounds out of his pocket and threw them at a brick wall one by one. One hit just right and fired and whizzed by my ear.
     
  19. DeMoN2318

    DeMoN2318 The DERS

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    That is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard...

    :confused2::confused2::confused2:

    Why was he throwing them at the wall?
     
  20. zamboni

    zamboni VIP Whale

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    Dumbass HS kids doing dumbass HS kid things
     
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