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ProfessorGAC

(70,512 posts)
14. On An Interstate
Sun Dec 8, 2024, 06:50 PM
Dec 8

Driving the band truck home at around 3 am.
I'm approaching a long gradual hill over a bunch of railroad tracks when something ahead just didn't seem right.
Took my foot off the gas, hill slows me down more and just then, a guy driving the wrong way crested the hill in front of me.
I pulled to the shoulder, hit my flashers, started waving the guys behind me (other band members over).
Guy comes over the hill and he's weaving from lane to lane & starts wobbling toward us. I completely stopped and operated to be hit, when the maniac swerved the other way. Couldn't have missed the truck by more than 2 feet. And, I estimated he was also speeding. Very fast, perhaps over 80.
I jumped on my cellphone and dialed 911 to report it. (I stopped under 30 feet from a mile marker, so I could give them pretty accurate location.
Incredibly, this lunatic did not cause an accident but they caught him. The local paper in the town 20 miles from us said he was DUI, and was arrested.
If I hadn't just had a weird feeling about the way the top of that hill looked, I could have still been going 55 or 60 when he crested the hill.

Recommendations

2 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Getting prepped for heart surgery... MiHale Dec 7 #1
Were you in there alone or with other people? True Dough Dec 7 #2
Alone. frogmarch Dec 7 #4
I was accepted into law school. I was eligible for a scholarship. no_hypocrisy Dec 7 #3
Hitchhiking at night back in 1971. Went to a concert livetohike Dec 7 #5
my work truck broke down and onethatcares Dec 7 #6
OMG MustLoveBeagles Dec 7 #11
That's (well, the person was) crazy! electric_blue68 Dec 8 #17
Sailing across Currituck Sound , NC in a dangerous squall PJMcK Dec 7 #7
Woah! A friend then living in Thailand i think got caught in unexpected storm, and went overboard but managed to get .. electric_blue68 Dec 8 #15
Overboard?! PJMcK Dec 9 #23
I'm pretty sure. I was very upset. electric_blue68 Dec 9 #24
While fishing in the Ohio River with my brother in our boat we decided to cross over to the doc03 Dec 7 #8
Oh, my...is That how big those barges are. Like almost a water version of being tied onto train tracks! electric_blue68 Dec 8 #18
60 years ago, the car I was a backseat passenger in went over a 250 foot cliff into Turnbull Canyon. quaint Dec 7 #9
Yikes nt XanaDUer2 Dec 7 #10
Gah! Thank goodness you, and others got through electric_blue68 Dec 8 #16
We hit an embankment 100 feet down which slowed our descent. quaint Dec 9 #25
When I was young, I worked at a social service agency womanofthehills Dec 7 #12
Terrifying! quaint Dec 8 #13
Woah! You should have gotten hazerdous pay! How awful esp w your yoing daughter there. electric_blue68 Dec 8 #19
On An Interstate ProfessorGAC Dec 8 #14
Phew! electric_blue68 Dec 8 #20
3 for me. Getting ready to go up to surgery for simulataneous cataract, and different kind of rential detachment... electric_blue68 Dec 8 #21
I've had a couple of runners up. LudwigPastorius Dec 9 #22
My first colonoscopy exam. Actually Emile Dec 9 #26
Walking home on a cold March night. A woman asked if I wanted a ride. Thought it would be safer femmedem Dec 9 #27
Being told I had a 100% chance of dying or being paralyzed if I fell prior to surgery. lark Dec 9 #28
the day my sons got into a scuffle Kali Dec 9 #29
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