Frazzling nerves

[chrisvenus]

"Wheee!!!! That was fun!" This was the exact opposite of what I was thinking at about 6:50 this evening as I came off a roundabout too fast and almost got myself killed.

On the way home from work, just getting ready to slow down to cut off of a roundabout when some clown in a bus starts to pull on way ahead of me. The slow travelling bus was gonna block me if I slowed down so I maintained speed and pulled off the roundabout faster than is comfortable.

Had it not been for the cold I'd probably have been fine. As it is I curved too wide, lost it as I tried to turn more sharply, clipped the verge with my right side as I regained grip and shot to the left, wrestled control back again to get more right and overshot the mark, almost hitting the verge again before straightening up.

I was pissed off at myself for losing it in the first place but slightly impressed with myself for holding control. It just goes to show that all those computer games are worth it after all. About quarter of an hour later I was still shaking slightly and wanting to hug my car for being lovely and keeping its grip as well as it did. Oh well, I'm still here so it isn't too bad.

Comments

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Glad you made it.
Next time, don't be so impatient. ;o)

[chrisvenus]

I wasn't as such being impatient. When I said the bus would have blocked me I didn't just mean slowed me down but more that I didn't think I'd be able to make it off the roundabout and do another lap. This might still have been the best course of action I suppose so maybe I was being impatient. Needless to say though my driving has been slightly more cautious today. :)

Sounds oddly familiar.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

A couple of years ago I had a similar moment of fun and games, coming off a dual carriageway onto a slip road leading down to a roundabout. The dual carriageway had been gritted, the slip road hadn't. Bright idea, Oxford City Council.

I still have no idea how I managed to get round that roundabout.

Still beats driving north of Braemar in January though - managed to go off the road twice in the space of about thirty seconds, just miss a wooden post, and pancake one of my tyres.

Oh, how we love ice.

Re: Sounds oddly familiar.

[chrisvenus]

My other fun experience with ice was on a nice quiet country road near home. Driving along minding my own business when the car does a cute little 180. Not too bad in itself. The scary thing was the fact that this road was on a hillside which went up at about 60 degrees to the left (later the right) and then down the other side at about 60 degrees. If the lovely little car hadn't kept dead straight when skidding I'd have either been down one side (there were trees there but I don't know if that is better or worse than a straight slope) or hit the slope up and trashed the car and maybe then bounced down the hill.

Aha... and my plan to never have to give people lifts again is slowly coming to fruition... nobody will want to get in my car after reading this... :)

I hate to point this out...

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

...but people still drive with me :)