Toyota Yaris Forums - Ultimate Yaris Enthusiast Site
 

 


 
Go Back   Toyota Yaris Forums - Ultimate Yaris Enthusiast Site > Members Area > Off-topic / Other Cars / Everything else Discussions
  The Tire Rack

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-15-2010, 10:21 PM   #1
Altitude
 
Altitude's Avatar
 
Drives: '08 LB MT Bayou
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,671
Almost lost my Yaris today...

I was headed up to Denver this morning and I've always been wary of I-25 between the Springs and Denver. The speed limit is 75 which means a lot of people do 90. It can be a treacherous road on the best of days, but today was a perfect storm of Monday morning rush to work drivers, and sudden wintry weather slicking the roads and reducing visibility with little warning.

The first incident happened while I was cruising in the middle lane about 70 feet behind a pickup truck. In my rearview I see this VW Jetta zipping up behind. He cuts into the right lane and keeps speeding up. I knew this was going to be trouble. Sure enough as I kept watching him accelerate in the right lane I soon saw the backend of a semi in the right lane ahead of him. It had been obscured by the big-ass pickup in front of me, but I knew what was going to happen next.

The VW speeds up and attempts to slide in front of the pickup just a few feet from the backend of the semi. He clips the front of the pickup, debris flies and both the car and truck are out of control crossing all lanes of traffic. I'm shitting my pants thinking this is it! Miraculously, both vehicles managed to get it under control and pull to the right shoulder. I had half a mind to stop and beat the crap out of that VW driver.

A few miles later I'm in the left lane when the cars about 80 feet ahead of me begin to react to something and I see the semi that was in the right lane right next to me veering into mine. I'm laying on the horn, driving the shoulder and manage to get in front of the semi only to have to use the brakes to slow down to avoid hitting the cars in front of me. The brakes didn't slow me down as the road surface had become slick from some light and blowing snow and I was on a downhill. This is when I noticed a white Cherokee sitting sideways in the right lane about 70 feet ahead (and the stupid driver of it was standing out in the middle of the highway!!.) The two cars in front of me had collided and I managed to maneuver between them and the Cherokee. The semi was behind me at this point and he managed to squeak through as well.

I found out later that I had just missed a 34 car pileup. Likely at this very spot (I don't know the exact location but given the cars stuck in the middle of the road it has to be the same spot.) See pics here.

Later I saw two more accidents before I finally arrived at my destination. Those two had already happened so I was in no danger.

The worst part was the moment I thought that I was surely going to smash my beloved Yaris to pieces and I had mental flashes of all the members here who have shown pics of their fallen Yarii thinking I would soon join their ranks ( or be dead.) It was not a good day and I'd still love to kick the living crap out of that VW driver.

Idiots! Slow the hell down!

Last edited by PK198105; 11-16-2010 at 09:29 AM. Reason: language please
Altitude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-15-2010, 11:36 PM   #2
TLyttle
 
TLyttle's Avatar
 
Drives: 07 Yaris sedan
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Keremeos BC
Posts: 986
Yup, they are all out there, as they have been for decades...

A long time ago, I was in fast, close traffic, and I saw away ahead of me Something Wrong. I glanced over my shoulder, saw space, and changed lanes, just in time to see the back end of the car ahead of me go way up as he hit the end of a line of traffic chain. I looked in the mirror to see the guy who was following me chuff the guy who was in front of me. Had I been in a less-manoeverable car, I wouldn't be here. Small cars find spaces not available to big ones!
TLyttle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-16-2010, 12:13 AM   #3
tomato
Super Moderator
 
tomato's Avatar
 
Drives: Yaris 2DR LB 07, MT, Abs. Red
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 5,155
The minute you wrote "accelerate in the right lane" I thought, uh, oh.... Glad you're OK, Altitude.
__________________
Follow Bamboo the YarisWorld Traveler here
tomato is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-16-2010, 01:14 AM   #4
ezhacker1
 
ezhacker1's Avatar
 
Drives: Decepticon - Ravage
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 1,462
more people need to have cameras in their cars, video says much more than a type paragraph. Would be some crazy video that is.
__________________


Check out my Build thread:
http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52274
ezhacker1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-16-2010, 08:04 AM   #5
DebbyM46227
 
DebbyM46227's Avatar
 
Drives: 2017 Yaris IA, Pulse Red, Auto
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Indianapolis
Posts: 538
Wow! I'm glad you weren't part of that mess! I can't believe no one died with the looks of some of those vehicles.
DebbyM46227 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-18-2010, 04:47 AM   #6
Midnight Drifter
Going Retro
 
Drives: '09 Tacoma | '90 Tercel
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Monroe, NJ
Posts: 148
Quote:
Originally Posted by Altitude View Post
The speed limit is 75 which means a lot of people do 90.
I don't follow your logic. There are many roads around here (NJ-18, US-130, I-195/295) where the speed limit is 45 but people do 90. What does the speed limit have to do with the actual speed that people drive at?

That said, that's much worse, because speed itself isn't nearly as bad as the 25-45 MPH speed differential between the assholes trying to race the clock and the Left Lane Richards (you know who you are) who are sitting in that same lane doing 43. I've SEEN highway-speed rear-end collisions caused by subject A excessively speeding and not paying attention and subject B practically coasting in the hammer lane.

But damn, lucky save man. I'm soooo glad you came out of that in one piece. A pile up is one of the few scenarios where a Yaris can be especially vulnerable.
Midnight Drifter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-18-2010, 01:38 PM   #7
silver_echo
ekodrvr
 
silver_echo's Avatar
 
Drives: 2002 white subaru impreza wrx
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Spokane, WA
Posts: 776
glad you're okay, glad you are one of the smart ones...

but you technically should have stopped to corroborate the story of the pickup driver to the police... then you would have gotten your mental salvation, and he would have been nailed to the wall for driving like a dumbass...
__________________
if you want to see my plans for this car, check out here...
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3154316


i like this smiley...
silver_echo is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
NEWS: TOYOTA REVEALS ALL-NEW YARIS SEDAN AT 2006 LOS ANGELES AUTO SHOW VitzBoy General Yaris / Vitz Discussion 7 09-20-2023 07:50 AM
**SAFETY RECALL!! 06-07 YARIS HB & SEDANS** slvryaris DIY / Maintenance / Service 83 09-30-2012 12:25 PM
Yaris review from the NY Daily news bobselectric General Yaris / Vitz Discussion 3 03-07-2009 02:28 PM
Just ordered my Yaris today Snowflake New YARIS Purchase Forum 14 07-20-2006 10:11 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:19 AM.




YarisWorld
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.