Close calls while driving?

We left a Gettysburg campground and got onto route 15 east and when we crested the hill a tow truck was half way in our lane picking up a car . The tow truck didn't even have his lights on . I bet we missed hitting him by a foot. The motor home weights about 40,000 pounds loaded ,what a mess that would have been.

We are going to buy one of dash cams this year for the motorhome.

Whats becoming most aggravating to me is those who think they have to pass coming to a red light. Flying past a vehicle slowing down and then make a left or right turn at the intersection.

wnjj wrote:

koda55 wrote:
John&Bet
The problem with trucks that can just barely make it past you are most likely governed and he already has it to the floor. Many trucking companies govern their trucks at 65. Most speedometers are about 2 mile off. I know all my vehicles are by going through the police radar that they set up along the road to show how fast drivers are going.

That's why I slow up for a few seconds if one of these guys is slowly passing me. Everyone else in the passing lane behind him will thank you.

I usually do too, but it is aggravating. If they are governed that tight then they need to drive accordingly and don't try to pass if they can't go any faster. Just my two cents.

Traveling down I95 and had a small U-Haul truck with a very low rear tire in the lane to our right about 2 car lengths in front , the tire exploded just as we got up to it. Saw pieces flying wasn't sure if we got hit, but at the next rest stop found we had a 2 inch hole right thru the front cap just above the drivers side headlight. No we didn't any info off the truck. Still had the hole when we traded it in.

koda55 wrote:
John&Bet
The problem with trucks that can just barely make it past you are most likely governed and he already has it to the floor. Many trucking companies govern their trucks at 65. Most speedometers are about 2 mile off. I know all my vehicles are by going through the police radar that they set up along the road to show how fast drivers are going.

That's why I slow up for a few seconds if one of these guys is slowly passing me. Everyone else in the passing lane behind him will thank you.

Lots of stories towing. Most bothering was the little girl who rode her bike out from behind bushes, off the sidewalk and across the road right in front of me as I rolled up to the intersection. Thank God I was almost stopped already and miss her by mere inches. She never even seemed to notice me.

Several years ago on I-10 eastbound in Florida I was passing an 18 wheeler when his rear outside tire on his tractor exploded as I came along side of him. It sounded like a bomb went off in my truck. The driver pulled over behind us and checked on us. Once I pried my fingers from the steering wheel and changed my shorts we checked my truck for damage. Several small dents and dings from the tire hitting my truck. He apologized several times. I am still skiddish to this day passing 18 wheelers.

John&Bet
The problem with trucks that can just barely make it past you are most likely governed and he already has it to the floor. Many trucking companies govern their trucks at 65. Most speedometers are about 2 mile off. I know all my vehicles are by going through the police radar that they set up along the road to show how fast drivers are going.

So far, the only RV related close call we have had was last year in the KOA CG in Williamsburg VA. One evening at dinner in our little pop-up camper, we heard a huge gravel scraping racket. By the time we realize it's not just someone dragging a plastic water container or some such through the CG and go outside to see what it is, this large brand new MH makes the turn between rows of sites perpendicular to ours and heads up the hill (we are on and outside end site at the bottom) dragging a damaged car on a tow bar behind it. It's just sinking in to my mind that he has torn the whole front end half way off the car by turning too sharply for flat towing (noise was the end of the bumper dragging gravel) when he turns back the other way into his site. I hear a POP and the noise changes when the car separates form the MH. Myself and a few other campers sprint up to the car to attempt to secure it, but it's already rolling backwards down the hill with too much momentum, so we have to step outta the way and let it go --- headed directly for our site! All I could do was stand there and watch thinking "Everyone's out of the camper and I hope insurance will cover what is about to happen...." As the free rolling car crosses the perimeter driveway, it wiggles on a ripple / rut and steers itself slightly to one side, missing all of our stuff by about 5 feet and parking in the ravine next to our campsite.
All of this happened with the CG employee "guiding" the MH to their site - I guess he could not hear the racket that brought people out of there campers all around.
I walked up to the MH owner and looked over the radiator core support (part of the structure of the car) with the bumper still bolted too it all still hooked up to his tow bar. Then we looked over the car in the woods. You could see where the uni-body of the car had been bent back and forth and ripped apart from turns. The poor guy was dumbfounded. He said this was his first trip with the RV to celebrate his retirement after a full military career. The guy asked me if the hitch failed and I told him "no, the car failed....I'm afraid your gonna have trouble getting any warranty on that"

Most people I know will time their trip to pass through Montreal in the very late evening or early morning. Between 11Pm and 5AM if you can time it.
In 2009 we were heading east through Montreal in our class C at about 11:00 PM and there was more traffic than I expected. I realized it was Friday night. We were in 2 lane area in the right hand lane when a Volkswagon Rabbit comes flying up on the right, right past my bumper with about five feet width of lane left. There's traffic on my left and concrete on his right. It was so fast I didn't eve get to react.
Before long I was in the middle of three lanes with about a 4 second gap to the semi tanker in front. A 4dr Chevy Lumina comes past on the left, not going crazy but passing. When he gets to the rear wheels of the truck cab, the truck signals left and starts to move over. They both see each other at the last minute and the truck starts back right. The car on the other hand swerves left violently then over corrects back right. In milliseconds my brain had calculated that once the car, now sideways in the left hand lane gains traction it will pass into my lane just as I get there. I cannot understand how that driver regained control, but I'd love to meet them. That was not my closest call but that's another storey.