Potentially escaped death today
 

Tonight I was returning from Natick and some of you may know that Exit 32A on I95 is used to connect to Route 3 North. However, Exit 32A is currently closed for road work and there is a very poorly indicated detour.

My GPS ended up getting me into a loop, and I ignored my GPS, also missing the detour and eventually getting back to it. When I got to the detour around 8:30 pm there was apparently an accident that resulted in a line of cars blocking the detour to the point where half a mile would take 30 minutes to get out.

Well it turns out the detour also leads you into an incline where you can't really see much ahead. Turns out there was a good amount of time for the line of cars to back up, and when I was going over the incline around 55 MPH I saw a pair of red lights coming close at a fast speed.

Oh shit.

I had probably a good 3 seconds before I'd crash into that car. I slammed the brakes and threw my steering wheel to the left, which made a loud skidding noise and my car lost some control for a couple seconds before I went straight again.

When that happened, I felt really light (similar to the feeling of going down a steep rollercoaster ride) and my body immediately felt cold. If I had not turned like that, even with slamming on the brakes I would've hit the car in front of me in the line probably at around 40 MPH, creating a domino effect of the cars following it. It would have been really bad for those people and I probably would have died.

There were two important factors that contributed to why I'm safe right now (but in shock):
1. The two left lanes were completely empty. If there were any cars in those few seconds in the left lanes, they would have been hit.
2. I didn't freeze in panic. I reacted immediately. If I had frozen for even a second, I probably would be in a hospital right now.

I did see a paramedic vehicle rush to the blockade earlier on. After around 20 minutes I got to the accident site in the detour, and the car's front was demolished. The person in that car had obviously been rushed to the hospital.

I'm just glad that I am alive right now. I'll probably remove this thread in a few days, but I'm still recovering from shock right now. I was lucky to have had those specific conditions in that scenario, or I could have ended up like the person who ended up in that tragic accident due to a fucking poorly designed detour.

For anyone who tries to go north from around the Natick MA area, please note this 32A exit detour from I95. That detour is fucking NASTY.

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

for once arrow mashing reaction time comes in handy

seriously wow glad you're okay dude

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

Holy shit, that's frightening. I'm relieved to hear that you're OK.

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

wow, just thinking about there not being a dossar... ;-;

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

Glad you're alright, friend. I had an experience similar to this about a month ago when driving, and it shook me up for a good while; hope you're handling the shock alright. Best of wishes eh

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

I'm glad you're still alive. :)

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

Thank goodness you're okay. :)

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

Not gonna lie this was my first thought while reading what happened

Shoutouts to them trade skills, glad to hear that you're alright

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

relieved you ended up ok that is scary stuff. i live around the area so i know exactly the exit you are talking about. driving incidents are so damn common it's like everyone knows a person who had a serious incident. the day cars are all autonomous can't come soon enough for me.

5 years ago i was a passenger in a car when we were hit at a 90 degree angle while we were stationary at maybe 35 mph and the entire front of the car was sheered off and the car was totaled but the driver and i were totally ok. if he hit us 2 feet to the right it would have been a direct impact and it would have been at minimum serious injury. i can relate to that feeling of shock. it's like a new look on life.

and ya im still in the area we should reconnect sometime

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

The feeling you get during/after an accident is awful, glad you're okay!

As an aside a frontal impact at 40mph would likely have left you with bumps and bruises. Fatality rates at that speed are very low especially for a tough, young duder like you :)

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

Jeeeeez, glad you're okay~~!

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

Great to hear you are alright.

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

yoooooooooooooooo, I'm really happy you're still in one piece :)

take the time to recover, my dude

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

It's really scary that you went through all that. :( So relieved that you're okay!

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

That's super terrifying. Close call @_@

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

i'm glad to hear you made it back safely!

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

with your fitness level and age, 40 mph wouldn't have killed you, but it definitely would have totalled your car and you would have been entirely at fault for damages done to anyone in front of you. glad to hear you reacted in time, you saved yourself potentially a life time of chronic pain and thousands and thousands of dollars

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

This is probably the most activity that I've seen in a thread for awhile.

Glad you're safe.

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

That's also what contributed to my shock: I could have also seriously injured the people in the cars in front of me. I consider myself very lucky that this turned out the way it did, with the conditions that allowed it. The other person that got totaled a while before I got to the detour (and which resulted in the one-lane blockade) didn't turn out so well. :(

Re: Potentially escaped death today
 

Oh, dear; and I thought going into a turn lane and cutting another driver off without him/her noticing is bad enough.
We have dust storms and low visibility situations here in Arizona, but no detour would ever turn out that bad. :(

I'm so glad you came out in one piece with (nearly) everyone else. I hope the driver that got seriously injured will recover. This shows how grateful I am in just knowing how to drive a car.