Closer to a head on then you ever want to be...

[Desert_Captain]

We were northbound on Highway 89 between Flagstaff and Page Arizona last Sunday morning. While this stretch of 89 is pretty good road it alternates between 2 and 3 lanes. About 25 miles south of Page southbound it was two lanes with just a double yellow line separating them from the northbound traffic.

Southbound traffic was fairly heavy as we ascended a long grade. I was doing 63 but the southbound sound traffic looked to be traveling at closer to 70+. Suddenly as a large class A approached in his left lane I briefly thought his toad had come loose but quickly realized it was a small mini van attempting to pass over the double yellow lines and completely filling my lane. :E

There was only about 3' of paved shoulder which quickly dropped off steeply so my options and time remaining were disappearing fast. I jammed on my brakes and thankfully the ABS did it's job seriously slowing my 24' Class C {I was towing a 2,500# 10' Cargo trailer} with no loss of control and I was able to move right to the edge of the shoulder still traveling at more than 40 mph.

Neither the Class A or the moron in the mini van slowed and actually it looked like a death race to see who could get us all killed first. The minivan squeaked by the Class A and started moving back across the double yellows nearly hitting the motorhome and missing my drivers side mirror by less than a foot. Had we all collided another 6 to10 southbound cars would probably have been involved. It all took place in matter of mere seconds and my hugging the edge of the shoulder while braking hard were the ONLY things that keep us and probably several others from being killed. A few inches more to the right and we would have rolled our rig right off of the highway.

Once we got out heart rates back undef 100 my bride and I continued on for nearly 5 minutes before even speaking and what we had to say is not fit to print. What in the heck is wrong with people? :h While the mini van was the scariest driver I have ever encountered and probably impaired beyond being terminally stupid the Class A driver could have diffused the situation by simply getting on his brakes and letting the idiot squeeze in... why kill us???

:M:M:M

[Johnny_G1]

Got a 3' long scrape on the rear of our mh from an idiot not paying attention and we were on the shoulder when he went buy and that happened in Quebec City a few yrs ago, you must be on the ball all the time to avoid situation's like that can happen in a heart beat, Left the scar on the mh as a reminder to how close we came to meet our maker.

[run100]

Desert Captain: Happy to hear you came through this unscathed. Sadly, many don't on a daily basis.

My wife and I had a "way too close for comfort" moment a few weeks ago on a local freeway. We were driving in the #3 lane, of a 5 lane stretch of freeway, when someone came off the on-ramp from behind. He shot across all five lanes and nearly clipped the rear drivers side of our car. Their vehicle was moving so fast, and came so close to clipping us (and I mean extremely close), I yelled out to my wife to hang on in some sort of colorful language. I would estimate their speed at well over 100-mph, as they quickly pulled away like we were parked.

I was so irritated, I nearly took off after them (out of character, for me!) In the blink of an eye, our lives could have been significantly altered had that car clipped us. It is no different than someone shooting bullets over our heads. Very risky!

The behavior of today's drivers is the worst I can recall in all the years on the road. Driving speeds are way too high, enforcement way too low and aggressive tendencies far too common. Between distracted driving, excessive speeds and people driving at night without turning on their headlights, it's amazing we get anywhere in one piece!

Be safe, pay attention and say a prayer or two!

[covered_wagon]

I understood the story. My only thought is that these things are going to happen more frequently with an ever more pernicious way of thinking these days, still a lot of good people out there so please be careful, stay alert, most of all keep the faith.

[rhagfo]

dedmiston wrote:
I'm always surprised and disappointed when someone shares a frightening story with their fellow RVers and people make the wrong choice and blame the OP instead of offering compassionate commiseration with their fellow human. It shouldn't be such a difficult decision to choose kindness.

Well glad CD is alive and well!
I will say he did the best one could do!!
I also believe the MH driver was an innocent victim also, and didn't know the minivan was attempting to pass. I think we all have had someone pass us before we knew it.

Since the Covid shutdown, I have noticed more crazy drivers out on the roads, and many far more impatient! I have seem many cases of drivers passing in double yellow zones.

The other thing I see in our area where we have farm equipment on the highways. That drivers think it is alright to cross over the center line to go around them when there is oncoming traffic, instead of waiting behind them until there is room to get around them.

Once again DC, glad you are all safe!

[Grit_dog]

^It’s very believable what Mr DC has re-counted here. And I would imagine many of all of us have seen this scenario before or been part of it.
And if DC couldn’t perceive the A slowing then he probably didn’t slow down. If the A driver couldn’t see that he was being passed on a double yellow with an oncoming vehicle, then he was either not paying attention or was actively part of the problem it seems.

[Chum_lee]

Desert Captain wrote:


Once we got out heart rates back undef 100 my bride and I continued on for nearly 5 minutes before even speaking and what we had to say is not fit to print. What in the heck is wrong with people? :h While the mini van was the scariest driver I have ever encountered and probably impaired beyond being terminally stupid the Class A driver could have diffused the situation by simply getting on his brakes and letting the idiot squeeze in... why kill us???

:M:M:M

Hindsight is always 20/20. You're assuming that the Class A driver also saw the impending situation and KNEW what all the potentially involved vehicles were going to do in advance. PROBABLY NOT THE CASE!

Glad you, the Mrs., and, your vehicles survived, unscathed, to tell another story.

Chum lee

[dedmiston]

I'm always surprised and disappointed when someone shares a frightening story with their fellow RVers and people make the wrong choice and blame the OP instead of offering compassionate commiseration with their fellow human. It shouldn't be such a difficult decision to choose kindness.

[Desert_Captain]

rhagfo,

I was so busy trying not to die not only did I not have time to honk I didn't even have time to flip them off! :S

Can't remember the last time that happened.

:h

[Grit_dog]

sparkydave wrote:
Glad you're still with us, Desert Captain. My family lives out in Arizona and my folks have a cabin in Payson, so I'm somewhat familiar with the roads you're talking about. I'm pretty sure I understood it; minivan was in a great hurry, passed in a no-passing zone, and thanks to your quick response managed to avoid a bad situation for everyone. That's what you would call a "brown trouser" moment.

Edit: Saw your newer post. I had it misunderstood, now i've got it.

May have to replace a couple seat cushions too on account of the large bites their @sses took out of them during that brief moment!

[Grit_dog]

DC, glad you guys are OK! That is scary as ____!
PS, Valhalla is the only one confused and conflicted here….and why he finds the need to try to argue with what you shared is something I likely wont understand until I get old and senile. And then I probably wont remember what I was supposed to remember…lol

[LMHS]

I'm amazed that you folks only run into this when you are in RVs. My daughter & I take a road almost twice daily (into town and back) that is also a truck bypass route and has farm tractors on it. Almost every trip on that road we are passed by some idiot in a no passing area or passed by an idiot using a turn lane as a passing lane. We do the speed limit (55mph set on cruise control) always. We are always, always passed like we are standing still. Doesn't matter what vehicle we are in, we are never going fast enough for someone. About once per week, one of us will see a "near miss". Every other week, we see evidence of a new wreck. And it doesn't slow folks down at all. And this is nothing compared to the main highway where folks are running 70mph (speed limit) and then hit the 55mph stretch before slowing down to 35 for town driving. They don't slow down until the traffic slights are so close together they can't get back up to 70mph. Basically, there are too many idiots driving now. An idiot driving recklessly will get innocent people killed. We try to drive defensively. But I'm not taking the non-existent side of the highway. Been there, done that, idiot was long gone and we are the injured.

And it's not just on the roads. We saw one of the shopping cart pushers at Sam's Club almost get run over by a car in the parking lot, the day before yesterday. Good thing he was nimble. Did the car stop? NOPE. Too busy looking for that space to park in, I guess.

[valhalla360]

Desert Captain wrote:
I have no idea why there is so much confusion about the lanes and traffic. Here are the first 4 sentences of my original post:

"We were northbound on Highway 89 between Flagstaff and Page Arizona last Sunday morning. While this stretch of 89 is pretty good road it alternates between 2 and 3 lanes. About 25 miles south of Page southbound it was two lanes with just a double yellow line separating them from the northbound traffic.

Southbound traffic was fairly heavy as we ascended a long grade."

There were 3 lanes.
Two of the lanes were southbound.
One lane, mine, was northbound.

"Honestly, with the conflicting comments form the OP, we don't know what really happened and if the Class A didn't let off the gas. Going down a grade, letting off the gas may not slow him down much. Going in the opposite direction and admitting he was surprised and in shock, I'm not buying he was able to objectively estimate anything.

PS: It appears based on other posters comments that it was NOT a 3 lane roadway. I don't know why that red herring was thrown in because it confused the discussion greatly. This was a simple passing situation on a 2 lane 2 way roadway."

No conflicting comments were made. Sorry you just don't get that. Yes I was surprised but not in shock, just a little busy doing my best to save our {and probably others} lives. Could not care less that you are 'Not buying"

No "Red Herring" was ever thrown in ... except by you.

:S

Now I'm really confused...The story has become so convoluted and conflicting, I'll give in... the minivan and Class A were both horrible and evil.

At least everyone survived unharmed. I wish you well.

[sparkydave]

Glad you're still with us, Desert Captain. My family lives out in Arizona and my folks have a cabin in Payson, so I'm somewhat familiar with the roads you're talking about. I'm pretty sure I understood it; minivan was in a great hurry, passed in a no-passing zone, and thanks to your quick response managed to avoid a bad situation for everyone. That's what you would call a "brown trouser" moment.

Edit: Saw your newer post. I had it misunderstood, now i've got it.

[rhagfo]

Desert Captain wrote:
We were northbound on Highway 89 between Flagstaff and Page Arizona last Sunday morning. While this stretch of 89 is pretty good road it alternates between 2 and 3 lanes. About 25 miles south of Page southbound it was two lanes with just a double yellow line separating them from the northbound traffic.

Southbound traffic was fairly heavy as we ascended a long grade. I was doing 63 but the southbound sound traffic looked to be traveling at closer to 70+. Suddenly as a large class A approached in his left lane I briefly thought his toad had come loose but quickly realized it was a small mini van attempting to pass over the double yellow lines and completely filling my lane. :E

There was only about 3' of paved shoulder which quickly dropped off steeply so my options and time remaining were disappearing fast. I jammed on my brakes and thankfully the ABS did it's job seriously slowing my 24' Class C {I was towing a 2,500# 10' Cargo trailer} with no loss of control and I was able to move right to the edge of the shoulder still traveling at more than 40 mph.

Neither the Class A or the moron in the mini van slowed and actually it looked like a death race to see who could get us all killed first. The minivan squeaked by the Class A and started moving back across the double yellows nearly hitting the motorhome and missing my drivers side mirror by less than a foot. Had we all collided another 6 to10 southbound cars would probably have been involved. It all took place in matter of mere seconds and my hugging the edge of the shoulder while braking hard were the ONLY things that keep us and probably several others from being killed. A few inches more to the right and we would have rolled our rig right off of the highway.

Once we got out heart rates back undef 100 my bride and I continued on for nearly 5 minutes before even speaking and what we had to say is not fit to print. What in the heck is wrong with people? :h While the mini van was the scariest driver I have ever encountered and probably impaired beyond being terminally stupid, the Class A driver could have diffused the situation by simply getting on his brakes and letting the idiot squeeze in... why kill us???

:M:M:M

First of all the Mini Van driver be crazy!!!

#1. Blue highlight, so was there a lane to the right of the MH, because you state he was traveling in the left lane!

#2. Red highlight, Did you think to lay on your horn?? Maybe the MH driver had looked in their mirror just before the Mini Van pulled out. Honking your horn would have alerted the MH driver that something was amiss.

#3. The orange highlight, Once again had you blown your horn, maybe the MH driver would have noticed the situation! also the coma I added makes the sentence easier to read.

This is the reason I travel with a dash camera that comes on with the ignition, and has the ablity to record six hours of video.