Accident

[Louis the fly]

About 20 years ago my son woke me up and asked if I would drive him to work as he had overslept. I got him to work on time and was returning home on a new by-pass road that had opened the day before. There was not a lot of traffic and I was driving at about 50mph. Up ahead I could see a small red car approaching the junction on my left driving very slowly, I suddenly realised that the car was not stopping at the give way lines. This is when something very strange happened, everything went into slow motion and I felt I was looking down on myself. I knew I was going to be involved in a very bad accident but could not do anything to prevent it, despite slamming on the brakes I crashed into the drivers side of the red car. As I was lifting my head off the steering wheel following the impact another car smashed into the back of mine. When I opened my eyes my car was in the middle of the road facing the opposite direction, the red car was on it's side on the other side of the road and the car that hit me was across both lanes. Police and an ambulance arrived quickly, a woman passenger in the red car was in shock but uninjured, the man driving the car died later in hospital, I was also in shock but not injured.
At the inquest the woman said she was shouting "Charlie stop" as the car approached the give way lines. The coroner's verdict was the driver was confused by the new road layout. The accident could not be prevented.
Has anyone else experienced this feeling of time going into slow motion in an emergency?

[Ivan Cloherty]

Well thank god you're okay Louis and I hope you're fully okay. Sitting in my stationery car with wife and baby twin daughters on board and looked in the driving mirror and saw two motor bikes approaching my stern at incredible speeds, I thought surely they are going to swerve into the other lane to avoid me, they didn't and there was no where I could go, with a car in front of me, all I could do was keep my foot on the brake and haul the handbrake up. I was in a Volvo 244 built like a tank, they hit a brick wall of a car, and one rider's feet went through the back window showering the twins with glass, and then slid along the roof and over the bonnet to land in front of the car, the other rider just went over the roof airborne but missed the car in front. It was like slow motion and high speed at the same time. The Volvo ended up with a huge 'V' in the boot, and after all the formalities with riders and police I was able to drive the remaining 60 miles home. Had I been in my Cortina tin can, then it would have been a different story. I was going to get rid of my Volvo having been given a company Cortina, so glad I didn't.

Later I did receive a letter from the Police stating they would be taking no further action against me in relation to the accident. I thought this was very nice of them really as I was stationery in traffic at the time of the accident!!

[j.sabourn]

#1. Louis your description of slow motion, of slow motion when everything should be at the speed of light , have experienced that a couple of times , and today suffer by trying to make decisions before the occurrence ever happens. It would of been called years ago of being on your toes , but no doubt you are living like a lot of us in a state of high anticipation , and is the usual state of mind when living with bad memory’s . Expecting similar to happen once again. It’s like running on a treadmill and getting nowhere. Cheers JS.

[happy daze john in oz]

Some years ago watched my Land Rover going over the edge of the sea wall with another car hanging off the two bar.
It all looked to be in slow motion but in fact was going a quite normal speed.
At times such as these the mind for some reason does not fully understand what is occurring, the mind is a very funny and fical thing.

[j.sabourn]

One of the bodies once again at the pa was amongst other falling objects from a height it was discernible as human , I must have been the only one who saw as others on board were taken cover if they had any sense. But I followed it from about 50 feet up when it came into view. It was in slow motion, he hit the water about 10 feet off our starboard side but his body hit the sea parallel to it and not feet first . It must have been split seconds but to me it seemed an age and was very qiuet , as soon as he hit the water all the noise and clamour returned and I knew instinctively the fall had killed him . He appeared to be a big well set up man, and all I could think of at the time was how easy it is to die. There was one account of one of the survivors taken out of the water of him having nightmares about taken a life jacket of a dead person in the water for himself which would be a very hard thing to do. He should not think badly as he seemed to do, it probably saved his life. If I recollect correctly at the time there were about 30 missing bodies. I had a similar experience when time seems to stand still on a ship in collision in the River Plate which I have already recorded, who knows maybe it does given the right circumstances. JS.

[Louis the fly]

I have thought about this accident many times over the years it took me a long time to relax when driving. I now believe the human brain comes to our assistance in times of danger by slowing down actual time helping us to come to terms with what is about to happen and lessening the shock to our bodies and mind.
Nearly all people who have escaped death in war or serious accidents report having no recollection of the events, they wake up in hospital and wonder why they are there. Perhaps the brain also blacks out the pain and trauma of major incidents, there is still so much we do not fully understand about the working of our brain.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Working with the Sydney water board we were always having to dig a bit of road up to repair a pipe, surprising how many cars never stopped at the hand held stop sign and ended up in our ditch, after one such incident the bloke on the stop sign hurled it through the back window of a car, the driver was most indignant until told him I had called the cops to charge him.
Watched on TV what could happen when a line of cars were stopped at a road works , a small car was the last one in behind a big truck, when an artic carrying steel came speeding up behind doing around eighty and crushed the car into a small ball. I'm now glad I live in a small town where the sped limit is 50 kilometers and hour.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Yes the mind can assist in making things appear not as bad as first thought giving time for the mind to adjust to what is occurring.

But for some unknown reason when the mother in law appeared at the door the mind just went blank.

[j.sabourn]

Have just changed over from wireless to broadband half an hour ago, so hope there are no accidents here. Anyone looking for the miniature aerial and all the associated bits and pieces before they go in the dustbin ? JS

[Robert Weeks]

Hi Louis,

Glad to hear you came out of things OK, that did not sound too good.

Some years ago I was conducting a draft survey on a ship in Sacramento California. It was fairly early in the year but it was a sunny day with a brisk edge to it. The survey began in the usual way with a trip up to the Captains cabin, a pre survey meeting, and then off to take the drafts. The ship was a bulk carrier in ballast, and it was riding quite high. Reading the forward draft was easy enough, but aft the very beamy rear end meant that the offshore draft could not be read. A jacobs ladder had been rigged, the kind which was best described as short broom handles tied between two heaving lines. The rounded bulwark at the side made access difficult, and the end was tied quite a long way inboard. It was difficult to even look over the side because the bulwark was rounded as an extension of the hull form. It was a long way down, and an even further way back up. There was no interest from the chief officer or the deck and I was left to my own devices. As I got near the top, which was a long way up I was definitely feeling the strain a bit. To my surprise several thing happened very quickly, the next rung I was reaching for above my head was suddenly whisked away, the ropes creaked, and the chief officers head appeared for the first time to see if I was OK. However his doing so meant he had stepped on the jacobs ladder on the tight end inside the bulwark, he was a big guy and stretched that rope quite a bit. It was certainly enough that the rung visibly moved up, and my reaching hand found nothing but air, suddenly everything changed as I fell backwards. I started running though in my mind preparations for impact. I had on my boiler suit and working boots, there was not much I could do except alter position to best prepare for the surface. It was a long way down, but I had the exact same experience of time standing still as I plummeted towards the dock water. I found myself thinking about survival courses, then about a whole range of things and wondering where the water was - surely it must be coming up soon. It did of course finally arrive, the Sacramento waters were very cold from mountain snow melt, and they were also very muddy - zero visibility. Again I was ready for this and it seemed to take forever for the downward travel to end, I believe I briefly touched the muddy bottom, before my ascent to the surface. It was finally at this point that reality struck home, and the freeze frame of time gave way to the freezing realty of the water. I struck out for the dock wall behind the ship. Up on deck not much help, and about half way to the dock I realized the cold was impacting my ability to swim. I could see two men in an aluminium fishing boat some distance off. They ignored me at first, but then finally came over. My boiler suit was full of water, and I was too weak by that point to climb over the gunwhales, so I held on and asked them to tow me to the dock wall where I could see an iron ladder. On the way over they told me they had seen me fall - but thought someone was making a movie. (Well, it was California) After grateful thanks, I heaved myself out of the water and up the vertical dock face, life was good, and took a moment to think about how lucky I had just been. I made the return trip to the Captains cabin, the Captain asked if I had stopped fooling about taking a swim, and could I get on with the draft survey now........ Suffice it to say that event did not occur. That time standing still however - absolutely, and I think it helped me be better prepared for what happened.