Closest you have come to dying - Page 5

Keepitsimple · #41 10-09-2006, 09:41 AM

I was walking with 3 friends. We are talking and dont realise a bus comes around a corner. We walk two and two with about 2-3 meters in between us. The bus passes between us without anybody of us hearing it.. Sort of scary to suddenly have a bus 30 cm in front of you. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

lippy · #42 10-09-2006, 10:34 AM

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WTF? A thousand cars at a highschool?

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My HS had well more than 1k cars at it everyday. I would guess closer to 1.5k. 3.2k-3.6k students.

#43 10-09-2006, 10:36 AM

Gert505 · #44 10-09-2006, 10:40 AM

I have a couple of near death experiences. Cliff notes at bottom.

The first happened when I was working in a steel mill for the summer. It was my 1st day loading flatbed trucks on a forklift. I had to load skids with coils of steel on them.

Well this truck driver (we will call him Jim) that was in charge of loading all the trucks was telling me what coils to put where so the weight distribution was right. If you are not familiar with flat bed semi’s, they have two steel beams that run lengthwise of the bed for you to drive on when you load the trucks. The rest is just wood.

Well, as I drive onto the bed of the truck to load the first skid, the truck sinks real low and starts squeaking and making all kinds of fun sounds. These trucks do not have any walls to them and I can see the ground next to the truck about 8 - 10 feet down. I am only 18 and I look at Jim and he just laughs, knowing that it was my first time and was questioning these sounds.

Then I notice that Jim is throwing down little scrap plates of steel on the wood. I ask what this is for and he said that it’s to cover the weak spots on the bed of the truck. GREAT! But I thought that if I just stay on the two metal beams I will be fine. So I thought.

As I load the second skid, Jim tells me to put it next to the first one. This means that I have to go off of the two beams and on to the “reinforced” bed of the truck. The floor of the bed starts to squeak and makes some more pleasant sounds. I glance up at Jim and he says, “Its fine, it will hold you.” So I am pushing the skid into place and all of a sudden I hear a loud CRACK! My truck drops and the front wheel falls through the bed of the truck. Guess you missed that weak spot Jim. My life flashed before my eyes and I thought that I was going to fall out of the forklift onto the ground below and have the lift come crashing down on me. Luckily the forks were low to the ground and caught the lift so it didn’t tip over. I almost crapped my pants and I look up at Jim and his eyes were wide open and jaw dropped to the floor. He tried to play if off like it was normal, but I knew that he knew that I almost died. The worst part was that I had to load about 15 more skids onto that truck.

That was only the second worst day that I almost died. The worst was when I was in a building and a plane hit it. But that is too long of a story on top of this one. Plus I posted it already.

Cliff notes: I almost died when the forklift I was driving fell part way through the floor of the truck I was loading and I missed getting hit by a plane in a building by about 50 floors.

toss · #45 10-09-2006, 10:41 AM

Not as spectacular as some of the guys in this thread, but when I was around 10 I almost cracked my skull in half when I went flying over the rails of my bicycle. Luckily I landed in a way in which my shoulder took the brunt of the fall. Always wear a helmet.

PokerintheI · #46 10-09-2006, 10:41 AM

I've got 2, cause I'm not sure which was closer to death.

#1. Worked 3rd shift, then drove 1 hour to register for classes at my new college. Got back on the road home about 12pm. Been awake for 28ish hours at this point. And this is a major interstate. About half way home I doze off and go off the road a little which wakes me up. I of course immediately jerk the wheel back onto the road. I immediatly lose control and do two full revolutions, 2 cars swerve to avoid me, and I finally straighten out in the right lane going about 15 mph. I pull off the road just as a huge caravan of traffic being held back by one truck passing another zooms past me. And this was while driving a wee little 1988 Corolla hatchback.

#2. First year of college at Michigan Tech. Unlike most of the students, I have never drank, and don't know any of the common sense rules that go along with drinking. So, have a depressing conversation with GF (10 hours away) and decide to drink a little. 8:00pm I start drinking straight out of my brand new bottle of 101 proof Peppermint schnapps. 8:45pm my roommate comes to get me to go play some Euchre. About 1" is left in the bottle when we leave. 9:30pm I get some cheese sticks from the cafe. Thats about the last thing I remember.

Apparently I was awake until about midnight when they managed to get me back to the room. I woke up at 2:00pm the next day covered in a minty mixture of Ravioli, Cheeze Sticks and assorted bits of other things and soaked in piss. Staggered to the bathroom and threw up some more. About 7:00pm I managed to shower and went to the health clinic cause I felt pretty bad. The Doc gave me some really expensive immodium AD and hooked me up to an IV because I was apparently dehydrated.

When I finally managed to tell him a more detailed account, the doctor shook his head and told me the only reason I was alive was a combination of luck, and the fact that I weighed 250lbs. 20 lbs less or one metaphysical coinflip not in my favor and I would have been a sad story cited whenever the politicians stump against drinking on campus.

I'm still not sure if he was just trying to scare me or being honest, but I decided to take him at his word.

27offsuit · #47 10-09-2006, 10:59 AM

Fell asleep and hit a guardrail at 65. Drove totaled car home after pulling front end off wheels.

Dove off a 35 foot quarry cliff and came thisclose to landing flat on my back. Everyone thought I was instant quad. I was the last one to dive in a group of 5-6 and as I was falling I heard a couple of the guys treading in the water below say "Holy sh*t he's going over..."

WDC · #48 10-09-2006, 11:13 AM

I have had a gun stuck in my ear during a robbery attempt but I have no idea if it was loaded. The gut ran away with nothing even though I had over 3 grand on me ( I was takinbg a restaurant deposit to the bank). He got scared pretty quick and ran when I cop drove into the Taco Bell lot across the street.

swede123 · #49 10-09-2006, 11:13 AM

At about ten months age I got bacterial meningitis. I don't remember anything about it but supposedly was pretty close to death there for a few days, due to extremely high fever and so forth. After two weeks in the ICU I finally got to go home, hopefully without any permanent damage.

Swede

mrkilla · #50 10-09-2006, 11:17 AM

Let see I have a few

I've told this one before but Racing my old Camaro I did a 180 down a 2 lane road, the other side was a cliff , the car "cut out" (Engine stoped/electric off)prior to going off, But the car started rolling backwards into oncoming traffic towards the edge of cliff again. I threw it Neutral and got her started and was ok!

Coming down 95 in CT, My new camaro (I'm Ital for FWIW [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ) I had to work a satruday when a Huge Blizz was coming into the Tri state area. Tried to leave early the boss (dick) would'nt let me. So going home I was doing ok but I lost control of the rear tires and started to spin. I gained controlled but hit the center median ( I was in the left lane) and bounced into the Highway still with almost no control, remember on coming traffic, snow, no one else is going to be able to stop. Luckly I was able to handle the car from spinning but shot across 3 lanes of highway and smashed the gaurd rail too.Car had 10k in Damamge.