Even the best drivers can be sabotaged by winter weather. Read on to learn about some frightening close calls.
Many years ago, I was traveling from northern Italy to Rome in February with a friend. He was driving, and we were on a major highway. The roads were clear of snow, but there were patches of black ice.
It was around 9:00 pm. I had dozed off in the passenger seat. When I woke up, to my horror, we were coming out of a tunnel at full speed and headed for the center median. I screamed as we slammed into the median. Then we spun 360 degrees and out of control and crossed three lanes towards the other median. We slammed into that median. The impact was right into the passenger side door where I was sitting. Glass shattered all over me. We spun once more, and then we stopped, exactly perpendicular to the road in the shoulder lane. In other words, the front of the car was pointing into the median and the back of the car was almost into a lane. I immediately turned my head back towards the tunnel and watched cars speeding out of it, passing by us within feet.
Within moments, I watched another car come speeding out of the tunnel and do exactly what we did. It lost control, hit the center median, spun 360 degrees, and then, it came barreling towards the passenger side where I was sitting. As I screamed, I watched as the driver looked up in horror in the direction he was going. At the last moment, he yanked the steering well and spun away, fishtailed, and the back of his car swung around and hit the passenger side again.
He stopped, sat there for a few seconds, and then, took off. Not taking any chances, I jumped out of the car in only my socks and hopped over the median, convinced that if another car was about to hit us, I could jump down the hill and into safety.
No one else hit us, and noone stopped and helped us. No fire trucks or ambulances came. Nothing. After about an hour of sitting, we decided we had to get to the next town. I sat in the back seat frozen because the windows were missing, and my friend limped the car to the next town. We got a hotel room. Then, my friend took me to the hospital. We explained what happened, and I had x-rays. Hours passed, and no one came to see us. We were exhausted and decided to leave and go back to our hotel.
About an hour after, we got a call from the front desk. The police were there to arrest my friend. We went down to the police station, explained what happened, and then, they let us go.
This wasn’t much of a travel story but a story of getting home safe from school. My high school was located on a hill. During winter, the snow would come down pretty quickly, covering the road and sidewalks within minutes. Unfortunately, one day the school got so snowed in after 30 minutes that the school buses that were due to take us home weren’t able to get up the hill. Police and snowplows turned up to help; however, it meant we had to wait a few hours before we were able to get home safely.
We were shooting an ad for our rental cars trying to portray that no matter where you are or what season you come to see us, we are there to help. Unfortunately, one of the drivers managed to turn the ABS control off, skidding along the road when making a turn, luckily he came out alive but was pretty close to hitting a tree. I probably should mention we were in the middle of a forest. It definitely didn’t make the final cut and the tyres were a little worn out after that incident.
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