| Motoring Discussion > Out of water | Miscellaneous |
| Thread Author: Armel Coussine | Replies: 8 |
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Tue 24 Mar 15 15:34
Out of water - Armel Coussine
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... and very confident, a duck walked straight across the A29 in front of me today, looking neither left nor right and maintaining a dignified, middle-aged sort of speed. I briefly considered not slowing down, but Herself was with me so I came almost to a halt. Perhaps a blast on the horn would have reminded it who was important and who wasn't. Anyway that's my non-bad deed for the day, so everyone had better watch out. ROAR! |
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Tue 24 Mar 15 17:33
Out of water - Cliff Pope
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I remember an old man with a wheelbarrow doing that. He was approaching the edge of the fast A-road so at first I assumed he would naturally stop. Then I began to get a bit nervous in case he hadn't seen me, so I gave a warning toot. He plodded on and began to push his barrow into the road. I gave a longer blast. He kept walking, at which point I realised he wasn't going to stop so I braked sharply. I still couldn't quite believe he would really walk straight out in front of traffic travelling at 60, but he did, so it was now an emergency stop. I stopped a few yards from him with a squeal of brakes and rubber, but he never paused or even looked at me, but kept on going. A car coming the other way nearly hit him. Then he reached the other side and walked away into a field, oblivious to anything. |
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Tue 24 Mar 15 17:50
Out of water - Westpig
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>> I remember an old man with a wheelbarrow doing that. >> >> I stopped a few yards from him with a squeal of brakes and rubber, but >> he never paused or even looked at me, but kept on going. A car coming >> the other way nearly hit him. Then he reached the other side and walked away >> into a field, oblivious to anything. >> When I was a teenager, I was a rear seat passenger in a Fiesta. When travelling at about 40mph on a dual carriageway, up ahead an unkempt chap of about 40 started walking towards the kerb as if to cross the road... so the Fiesta driver changed lanes from 1 to 2... only the chap carried on walking... neither looking left or right...nothing, just plodding across the road. The driver braked very hard and aimed for the central reservation... and being in the days of not many cars with ABS, it was somewhat dramatic with loads of tyre skidding noise and oodles of blue smoke. Still no reaction, chap kept walking. Well, we hit him...fairly hard too. He went up the bonnet, hit the windscreen and flew off the nearside and landed in the road. My mother who was the front seat passenger sat there screaming "we've killed him" and didn't do a lot else which wasn't so helpful. I was stuck in the back of a 3 door car. We all got out, traffic stopped behind us. Matey seemed remarkably o.k. and stood up... so we re-acquainted him with his jacket pocket possessions which had gone everywhere... and he plodded off, seemingly without a scratch. The car had a dented bonnet and a huge greasy stain where his head had hit the window. We rang it in in case he keeled over somewhere, but never heard anything after that. He must have been on something of course. I suspect the fact that he never realised what was coming his way (and tensed up) helped. Shook us up a bit though. |
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Fri 23 Oct 15 18:07
Out of water - Armel Coussine
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>> He must have been on something of course. I suspect the fact that he never realised what was coming his way (and tensed up) helped. Almost certainly on alcohol. Posted before, but a drunk geezer walked into the car I was driving - Hoppy's new maroon Mini - at the place where Essex road forks left into Upper Street. He came from the offside but I was looking left where I was going. I had a passenger and was a bit high, but not going at all briskly, probably 25mph or less. The guy came down on the Mini's roof in mid screen and bashed it down. The screen turned to little cubes and dropped into our laps. Through the bent gap I could see the geezer flying through the air. He landed on his back in the road in front of the car and we didn't run over him. I was a bit traumatized and terrified that I'd killed the guy, although really it was more suicide on his part. His scalp was bleeding a bit. After a few seconds he sat up and asked for his shoes, from which he had been projected by the impact. He wanted to stand up but we made him lie down again. He was in shock of course. The fuzz turned up within five minutes. They were cool and said they smelt alcohol on the geezer, but politely refrained from sniffing my breath. Soon an ambulance came and took my poor victim away. I wasn't charged. When I rang the hospital to enquire after the poor geezer's health, the medics were short and disapproving with me, but said he wasn't at all well and had a broken arm. Perhaps I was suspected of trying to arrange a defence, and I suppose it did look like that in a way. After all that, I had to pay cash for a new roof, screen and bonnet top for Hoppy's Mini, plus fitting, welding, painting and fettling. 500 quid I think, real money in those days. |
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Fri 23 Oct 15 18:19
Out of water - Armel Coussine
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Pink stripe addendum: My victim was dressed all in black and was holding a dark umbrella in front of his face in the driving rain. What it meant was that he was almost invisible to me and couldn't see anything in my direction, but was walking briskly into my car. His scalp had a nasty cut but after a minute he sat up and asked for his shoes, from which he had been projected by the impact. All these things were explicitly noted by the excellent fuzz. They also smelt alcohol on him. Passing pedestrians used their coats to cover him up and make a pillow. There are nice people around. Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 23 Oct 15 at 18:22
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Sat 24 Oct 15 18:59
Out of water - Armel Coussine
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I've crashed half a dozen cars over the years bashing their mugs in and bending their chassis. Or rather, I did a few times quite a long time ago. A disgraceful record actually, but good learning material. That Upper St incident was the nearest I ever came to injuring someone very seriously. Being drunk he was floppy so didn't break anything really crucial. I got a letter from an ambulance-chasing shyster saying his client had suffered a hairline fracture of the skull. I didn't answer it but I felt very guilty about the geezer, who had caused both of us so much trouble and angst. It could have been worse than a hairline fracture, an actual head bashed in. Makes me shudder to think of it, to this day. |
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Tue 27 Oct 15 18:02
Out of water - Armel Coussine
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A deer burst through the hedge on the o/s of the road and ran into the jalopy once with quite a thump. It was a young buck with quite extensive but furry antlers. It turned away in the direction we were travelling and hit the o/s of the car around the driver's door, a glancing blow really so perhaps no real damage to the deer. Wild animals are very tough. Its flank left a muddy mark on the rear door/wing. |
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Fri 30 Oct 15 21:51
Out of water - Armel Coussine
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>> dressed all in black and was holding a dark umbrella in front of his face in the driving rain. What it meant was that he was almost invisible to me and couldn't see anything in my direction, but was walking briskly into my car. In fact my passenger saw him first, because he wasn't looking left along Upper St and because the windscreen was wiped on the driver's side, my side. He made a surprised noise about half a second before the crazy geezer walked into the car, and I hit the brake pedal but too late to prevent the impact. The fuzz questioned us separately and we both told them what had happened. They were satisfied we were telling the truth, as we were of course. I still remember the bashed-down roof, the geezer flying through the air and the wipers waving impotently back and forth with nothing to wipe. Not the sort of thing you forget however much you may want to. |
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Sun 25 Oct 15 08:17
Out of water - Mike H
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| Happened here, similar situation but unfortunately he was killed. |
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