So my commute home after work yesterday, may have been the most terrifying experience of my life. Ever. And as the title of this post suggests: Yes, part of the story involves my car facing the wrong way on I-5, one of the major highways.
So I’m driving home last night on southbound I-5. In one spot there’s a HOV lane on the left, 3 regular travel lanes and an on ramp merging onto the highway. I was in the middle regular travel lane. A guy in an SUV is on the on ramp, merging onto the right lane. And then continues to merge into my lane: into my car. Immediately I lay on my horn, but he showed no signs of stopping, so I swerve into the left lane to avoid being sideswiped. Thank god, there was noone in that lane! Unfortunately since I had to swerve so sharply, I was heading into the HOV lane & the concrete barrier, so I quickly tried to correct my car towards the right. Unfortunately that along with stepping on the break put me into a skid and I ended up skidding towards the right, back to the across ALL the lanes of traffic and turning my car around backwards in the process. I remember looking head on at the guy in the SUV who had started this whole mess, and thinking “What an interesting perspective of seeing all of the cars speeding towards me”. At this point I go into Fight or Flight mode and while all of my senses heightened, my memory is a little hazy. But remember hearing Devon’s voice saying that if I’m ever in a slide, first thing I need to do is take my foot off the break to get some traction back. So I did exactly that, and some how managed to get control of my car, and pointed southbound & driving forward again. I immediately pull over to the side of the road, and turn off my car. It felt very: “Thank you for playing, but you lose!”. But actually I had won, because I wasn’t in a twisted pile of metal.
I started shaking like a leaf. I must have had truckloads of adrenaline pumping through my system. Surprisingly, the guy in the SUV who had almost tanked into my car, pulled over as well to make sure that I was ok. He apologized profusely, and said that he’d never seen any driving like mine out side of stunts in Hollywood movies. He was shocked that I hadn’t rolled my car, or driven into the left or right hand barriers. I stayed in my car trying to settle down and stop shaking, while he went around my car to make sure that my tires weren’t damaged and apologized some more. Eventually when I stopped shaking, I continued on my way home. However, after I pulled into the garage, I turned off the car and then started sobbing uncontrollably. Devon came out & thought that someone had died. All I could get out between sobs was “I-5″ and “backwards”.
But yeah. I’m safe and sound & my car looks unscathed. But seriously: Holy shit. I’m a fantastic stunt driver. (In addition to being insanely lucky that there wern’t more cars on the highway that I could have collided into.)
Also, Seattle drivers who merge without looking suck.
Wow. That’s some craziness. Glad to hear you’re okay, Emma. You should do some stunt driving so you can have fun doing crazy stuff like that on a road course without the fear of death-by-SUV.
I think you may know that I also had a similar experience and everything you describe matches pretty well…mine was in Lexington on Rt. 128 at rush hour…from the slow lane into the median strip backwards facing rush hour traffic across all 4 lanes of traffic. I also was unharmed but I dinked out one rear brake light….so you win! Your car was completely unscathed! My experience made me truly believe in angels…
Christian: I dunno. After yesterday’s debacle I think a closed course is a step down… Next time I need a little zazz in my life, I think I’m gonna do donuts on the highways.
Telgator1: It sounds like stunt driving runs in the family.
But yeah. Totally an awakening experience. After it was all over, I was kind of shocked that I was still in one piece, because if there had been more traffic or I had done anything even slightly different, there’s a good chance that things would have turned out very poorly. I was also plesantly surprised that when confronted with such a terrifying emergency, I didn’t end up covering my eyes with my hands and screaming. 
Well, if we’re going to start comparing wrecks…. I was in a 1-car wreck where I spun the car 360 degrees in MID AIR. took out 2 telephone poles, and wasn’t hurt a scratch. Unfortunately the car was demolished.
So I guess I’m in 3rd place. ;-(
PS – this is starting to sound like a good forum for http://www.howgoodiwas.com – bragging about our car wrecks
wow. that kinda sounds like the accident i was in when my car was totaled. but the asshole that cut me off and caused me to be hit by the guy behind me didnt stop.
Hey Marty! Hi & thanks for stopping by. Kinda crazy that this story in general is so common. I’m a big believer in needing to retake driving tests every 10 years or so, because there are clearly some people that need to brush up on their driving skills (or lack their of).