What flirts with death have you had

What jackassery were you pulling, and what happend...give us the dirt, Hotrod!

I went to Florida during hurricane season. I flew 30,000 ft. in the air, at 600 mph. That's f*&#ing crazy!

I can't remember doing anything else dangerous.....ask ChikiTiki.

Before kids and modern and shag and tiki obsessions I was fixated on mountain biking. Went to the mountains of New Mexico. Went riding with locals, stopped for a beer and by the time I came out the moon hadn't come up enough to provide any light. So i decided to ride back to the camp ground, although I was the only one there.

It was pitch black and I litterally could not see the road, when a pick-up stopped the guy inside yelled at me hey I thought you were a deer, get in, I'll give you a ride. As he pulled away something didn't seem right. He passed the turn. I told him to stop, but he didn't right away. he went on for a couple of seconds. But in those couple of seconds, I thought perhaps this was it. I got my bike out of the truck and still in total darkness, at about 10,000 feet I managed to get back to the campsite. Litterally had a hard time seeing across the street. The national camp ground had only one tent on the site and it was mine. The family that was watching the campground was gone for the nite back to el paso.

Needless to say it was a bit of a difficult nite sleep.

At the end of the week, the guy that was watching the campsite, went on to tell some terrific tales that absolutely scared the shit out of me.

Haven't been back since.

Well without trying I was almost killed by the unseen, a number of times.
In 2000 I shattered my leg, and from that I developed blood clots that filled my entire right leg, and then got into my lungs, where a clot managed to kill a piece of my lung. It took 7 days of hospitalization to clear it up the clots. Then they had to get the screw out of my leg after they put in a plate and 15 screws, well to do that they had to take me off the blood thining medicine, and guess what happened when they did that, the clots came back worse, this time my the arteries from my heart to my lungs were almost completely closed off, so back on bed rest and another stay of 10 days to get rid of the clots. In a matter of months I would get diagnosed with Testicular Cancer, have my left testi removed and then have to due radiation treatments. Then I was hit with what they called a heart attack, some how after I had just gotten doen with playing 80 mintues of rugby, I still think it was the Philly Steak sandwiches and the beer. But they scoped me about every which way they could, the only thing they found was a clot in my heart. The worst part was when I was sitting in the hospital and the Dr. comes in and says "good to still have you with us" and you realize that he is not joking.

I was a diver in the Navy. In 1982 I drowned off the shore of Cuba at 4 fathoms. I was brought to the surface by a buddy and team member, and dragged ashore at Guantanamo. They revived me with CPR. They estimated that I was dead for 2-3 minutes.
Oddly enough, the buddy that saved me was a Samoan that we called the Flying Hawaiian. He was a cliff diver that could hold his breath for 5 minutes and he was a much superior swimmer than I.

God bless you FH.

I've usually been 5 minutes ahead so I'm not sure if these count.

In the early 90's I was a Lot Lizard. I transported a car to another dealership. I was in the mechanics garage talking to some guys, I walked out, five minutes later a former employee came in and shot 4 people.

A fews years later, as a pizza delivery guy, I delivered an order. Right after I left, a drunk party goer decided to swing around one of those Samuri-Sword-of-the-Month club swords. There was a beheading.

You're all EXTREMELY fortunate to be o.k.-some really scary stuff.

This happened to me about 12 years ago. An old friend of mine is a licensed private pilot. We used to fly up and down Southern California all the time -- San Diego or Palm Springs, etc for lunch, even Las Vegas for a couple of days. It was something we did every Friday usually in a single engine Piper Arrow or Cessna 149.

Well, on one of our trips we had trouble. We were flying up the coast in a Piper Arrow to Santa Barbara when at about 5800 feet over Oxnard we lost all power to the motor. Now, if you've ever flown in a single engine plane you know how loud the motor is so when the power on the motor went out, it got deftly silent and the plane was now just gliding. My buddy called right into the tower and told them what just happened . Sitting in the co-pilot chair (I also had a radio headset on) I could hear the whole conversation:

My buddy Joel - "Tower we've lost power to our engine."
Tower - "Ok, ummm. What is the condition of your landing gear?"
Joel - "Our landing gear is fixed"
Tower - "Your call number?"
Joel - "498 Victor" (the last half of the call numbers on the side of our aircraft - I'll never forget it)
Tower - "Hang On for a sec"

Joel then turns to me and tells me to start looking for a freeway or a golf course.

Tower then returns with, "How many souls are on board?"

I thought, "What?! Souls?!!!" They think we're gonna die!

Joel stayed cool and calm - "2 souls"
Tower - "Do you need the runway prepared?" (They mean sprayed with fire retardant)
Joel - "No. I just need clearance."
Tower - "Ok, we're going to pass you to Camarillo"

At this point, Camarillo (airport) didn't want to handle us (I'm guessing that they didn't want the liability in case we didn't make it) and they and Oxnard argued about it until we got passed back to Oxnard (we found this out later after we landed the plane). So needless to say, my buddy Joel navigated the plane to Oxnard Airport. As we approached the runway, I noticed there was an ambulance and two firetrucks waiting for us to land (I guess in case there was a problem landing and someone gets injured). We came in twice as fast and a little higher than normal because he was afraid we would lose altitude before we made it to the airport. But -- we landed. When Joel stopped the plane, a driver ran up to his window and asked if we needed a taxi to which he confirmed (our engine was dead). Our plane was then taxied to a hanger.

We ended up spending most of our day in Oxnard Airport that afternoon while we waited for a Cessna 149 to be flown out to us (from Brackett Field in Pomona, our point of origin). The FAA began an investigation on the whole incident (standard practice whenever an emergency landing is involved). While this happened, we noticed the local Channel 4 and Channel 2 news and their field reporters doing a "live report." Of course, we were not allowed to talk to them (FAA regulations do not permit anyone involved to speak to the media until the investigation has been completed).

We later found out that the block of the motor cracked and a piston shot out. The mechanic told us we were lucky we got the plane down and commended my buddy Joel for getting us down safely. We flew home late that afternoon after our Cessna arrived and lost our whole trip to Santa Barbara. The following weekend we flew over 30 miles of ocean to Catalina Island for a day, had some lunch and laughed about the whole thing.

My buddy Joel is now living in Las Vegas and flies for the California Highway Patrol (CHP) over the desert - he's a traffic pacer who looks for speeders!

**Poly-Pop ***

He who dies with the most broken mugs WINS!

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2004-10-01 08:49 ]

Hit from behind, while driving my SUV, on one of the heaviest rainy days in a while, on the freeway. I hydroplaned and spun around at least 8 times. It happened in slow motion, total silence as I was spinning. I could see other cars swerving to avoid me and the looks of horror on the driver's faces. All the while a little voice in my head was telling me "ok, let go of the wheel, now, grab the wheel, pump the brake, let up on the brake"

Amazingly, I hit nothing else except a brickwall, off the side of the freeway. Minimum damage and no injuries!

Life really can be measured in a matter of seconds. One night two friends and myself go out to shoot some pool. About midnight we decide to head to a restaurant literally only 3 minutes away. I hop in my car and my friends follow me in their car. Only one stop light between the pool hall and restaurant, I enter first and about three seconds later my friends enter and are hit broadside by a drunk driver, instantly killing the driver and trapping my other friend under the car. Unbelievably, the drunk driver crawled out of his overturned car and runs home, later to be sentced to ONE year in jail. Some f#cking justice system! I can't tell you how many times i've thought if we had hit even one more shot on the pool table, we would of missed that driver completely. Enjoy it, because it can end in the blink of an eye.

I was driving in the left lane of an intersate, when a van in the next lane over started to cut in front of me. To avoid him, I swerved into the grassy median and drove a few seconds there, parallel to the main route going about 60mph. When venturing back onto the main highway, I lost control, fishtailed a few times (it looked like one of those NASCAR in-car cameras), and eventually ended up in the ditch. Even though there was heavy traffic, I didn't hit anybody. My car was totalled, and I was unhurt.

I was also on a airline flight to Germany, and the plane had to turn around 90 minutes into our flight and return to DC. I had a window seat - it was completely dark by now- and was surprised to see the whole runway lined up with emergency vehicles with their flashing lights. We were later told that the plane had lost all hydraulic power.

Vern

I was with family and friends on a 4-day whitewater rafting trip on the Salmon River, Idaho. I was paddling in the rear of my raft, the second of three large 15-foot rafts in our group with rowing cages in the middle of each one. There had been a record snow runoff from the mountains that Spring and many of the rapids were running a class above their normal rating, while others were much safer - the water being so deep over usually-exposed boulders.

We headed into the largest Class 5 rapid of the trip with enthusiasm, having had nothing but exhilarating success the previous 2 days. We watched the first raft go through safely, then we made our run.

Halfway through the run we were hit sideways by an 8-foot wave and were sucked into a giant 16-foot "hole" or whirlpool and there we stopped dead - huge waves rising and roaring on either side of us so that we couldn't even be heard shouting. Our oarsman heaved mightily but was unable to escape the pull of the hole.

I wrapped a rope several times around my arm and suddenly our 15-foot raft was bent in half like a giant clamshell closing. A woman in the front was crushed against the rowing cage and had all the skin on her leg scraped off - requiring skin grafts later at a hospital. The whole rear of the raft then got sucked under water an the last thing I could feel was the rope being ripped free of my arm like so much wet spaghetti.

I awoke from a strange dream where I seemed to remember being on a rafting trip with my family. It was very peaceful and quiet where I was. I was spinning slowly on my back at the bottom of the river, 20-feet below the whirlpool. I could feel the gravel below my back and see the bubbles of the surface far above me.

Suddenly I had an overwhelming need for air but could not seem budge myself one way or the other from the swirling current, which had me like a toy doll. I knew I was going to die and wondered how long it would take my family to find my body. Unable to hold my breath any longer, I took water into my lungs but my body rejected it violently - coughing it back out. All I could see was red.

Suddenly the current relented and I was sucked out of the whirlpool where my life vest propelled me back towards the surface. My head broke free of the water just as another giant wave slapped me back under before I could draw a breath. That was discouraging. But I could see light at the end of the tunnel and managed to hold my breath a bit longer.

When I finally did break the surface again, that first gulp of air was the sweetest thing I've ever tasted. Probably only a minute or two had passed since I first got sucked down, but it had seemed like a lifetime. I immediately remembered my training, and lay back in a sitting position with my legs in front of me and rode the rest of the rapid in my life vest. It was the most fun I had the entire trip - going over huge waves like a roller coaster.

I was picked up by the raft in front of us at the next calm spot in the river. We paddled to shore and managed to get a call out to an ambulance to pick up the poor woman who was injured in the front of our raft. I had lost both shoes in the experience, and had to spend the rest of the trip bare-footed.

My experience was no-where near as critical as Hehena Haole's- who actually drowned. I can say, however, that drowning is a horrible way to die - (having almost drowned twice) - and I sympathize with him greatly and am amazed he survived.

Sabu

Let's see, how close to death do you need? I fell 30 feet out of a tree when I was a kid, luckily I landed in a bush & only ended up covered in bruises. In my teens I was hit by cars twice while riding my bike, luckily not ending up underneath, so I was only covered in road rash. In my 20s I crashed a scooter on a busy street & ended up head-first on the ground in front of an oncoming car, luckily the old lady driving it was able to stop, but she stopped about 2 feet in front of my face.

I've had LA-area police draw weapons on me 3 times: a Glendale cop drew his gun on me during a traffic stop (He stopped me in front of a batting cage & was confused by all the people walking around with baseball bats); a Pasadena cop handcuffed me, threw me to the ground, put a shotgun to my head & said "Please move, I want to kill you;" and a Hollywood cop pointed his gun at a suspect, through a group of my friends & myself. Also a Pasadena cop shot my dog in front of me for barking at the police officers invading my home.

Before I learned to control my temper I put my fist through a plate-glass window, severing veins, arteries, muscles & tendons and a nerve branch. My friend George King acted as a human tourniquet & squeezed my arm with his bare hands to stop the bleeding 'til they got me to the hospital.

I've seen a man decapitated by a used car lot sign in a one-car accident (he lost control, crossed traffic & hit the sign, one side snapped off and went through his windshield); seen a friend-of-a-friend lose control of his motorcyle and hit his head on a telephone pole which removed his helmet along with the top of his skull; and seen a friend hit by a car & dragged underneath for 3 blocks before they could stop the old man who was driving, my friend stopped screaming somewhere on the second block.

Plus: slipping but not falling while rock climbing on cliffs on the Maine coast as a kid; various adventures & close calls on 2 wheels in my teens & 20s, often involving the ingestion of various drugs & alcohol, occasionally involving fleeing from the police; having drivers try to force me to ride into parked cars while riding my bike in my 20s; multiple beatings & ambushes as a teen, occasionally involving weapons; having a friend wave a shotgun around, telling him not to point it my way, he responds "But it's not loaded, see," and he blows a hole through the ceiling; multiple close calls involving large fireworks, dynamite, black powder, gasoline, airplane fuel, fuel-grade alcohol, fertilizer, &/or various other gelling agents; jumping off of the old train trestles into the Kill van Kull on Staten Island; getting caught in undertows & strong currents several times in both the Atlantic & Pacific, one time being knocked down, dragged down & across the rocky bottom before I could surface and head to shore with my right elbow looking like chopped meat; and almost hitting a student driver semi while practicing my 4-wheel drifts in my old Isuzu Impulse on the way to work in San Diego.

growing in up orange county, we hung out at the neighbor's pool a lot. my sister one day offered to "teach me to swim." this involved her swimming me to the Deep End and then letting go. naturally, I went down, and dragged her with me, grabbing at her head and keeping her under in an attempt to stay afloat. both of us were drowning while the parents sat nearby playing Gin Rummy and drinking bloody mary's, thinking we were playing. the neighbors' mother in law, a former swim teacher, realized we were drowning and saved us.

later, while living in Oregon, I also hydroplaned across the freeway, in the middle of the night, during a hard rain. I remember doing 360's across all lanes and waiting for someone to barrel into me, which didn't happen. suddenly, my lights lit up the side of a semi truck mid-spin, and I thought "this is where I die."

luckily, my front fender nicked the side of the semi in mid-spin only, then my truck stalled, perpindicular across the lanes. I again waited for someone to hit me, but luckily no one did, and I was able to quickly re-start it and move it to the side.

in my excitement, I left the truck running and the lights on, with the keys in the ignition, obviously, but then locked the door out of habit when I went to talk to the semi driver. in the pouring rain. in the middle of the night.

the semi driver was nice enough to let me sit in his cab while we waited an hour for AAA to show up to let me into my car.

last, a few years ago I had terrible food poisoning in Hawaii, and ended up in the ER room after spending a week in agony. I was better on the last day and wanted to finally snorkel. the waves are rough on that snorkel beach in Kona, so I was sticking close to shore. but my father egged me on, saying "the fish are beautiful out there by the rocks."
I got out there but was too weak to swim back, with the tide coming in. I felt myself starting to panic, and the waves were too choppy to get a good footing on the rocks.
but, I remembered my years of swim team training and swam diagonically across the waves into the neighboring beach and then walked back to my folks. at that point, I felt lucky to be alive.

I've also several times dropped butcher knives on my bare feet while doing dishes, but each time only the handle landed on my feet. Is that luck, or physics?

I got the idea from this topic from the "Who want's my Miata" post, but for some reason Dangergirl, I thought you would have a story or two.

Glad you're all still with us!

Fucking tightropewalk...everyday...you don't know it but it is.

On 2004-10-01 13:18, Gigantalope wrote:
Dangergirl, I thought you would have a story or two.

Yes, I've been "learning things the hard way" since 1972!

At the age of almost one year old I was playing on the floor at my parents home when I found a very thin 2" long shard of glass from a beer bottle that had been broken earlier in the day. They thought they had swept it all up but missed a piece. You know what happened next don't you? Yep, I swallowed it. It slit the inside of my throat and went all the way to my stomach. I vomitted blood like crazy. My mother finally reached the Dr. on the phone and he told her to pack me full of Wheaties cereal to wrap around the glass and prevent further damage.
I eventually passed the thing into a diaper.
My Mother still has the glass in a compartment of her jewelry box. Gives me the creeps just to see it!

In my 20's, I shot cocaine while peaking on LSD. I vaguely remember stacking all my cheap-ass furniture against the front door of my cheese-bag apartment because I thought the cops were gonna bust in at any moment (they didn't - until 2 weeks later).

In the 2 years that I've lived in CA I've almost killed myself twice. You know those idjits who think they can take a short cut to Fort Funston beach by climbing down the cliffs? Yeah, that's me. I slid probably 50 feet straight down until I dug my heels in and grabbed onto some vines. It took me a half an hour to get the remaining distance down. Luckily I was just scraped up, bruised and embarrassed. The month after that I got sucked out by the riptide in Pacifica and almost drowned. A surfer had to drag me back in. If my wife ever finds out about these things, she'll never let me out of the house.

Let's hear it for the power of Tiki protection!

A bunch of years ago I was training for another marathon with a 20 mile run. After 19 miles I felt my bloodsugar level start to drop. (I'm diabetic). There were no stores on the way to get sugar, and I was out of Gatorade. My parents house was closer than my apartment, so I headed there. One half mile later, my brain was getting fuzzy, and my muscles were getting rubbery and spastic. I could'nt walk a straight line. I remember a nice citizen with 2 kids in his car drive past and call my an F-ing drunk. It was 11am on a Sunday morning. (Thanks for nothing, genius.) I barely made it to my parents house and proceeded to glom down a full bag of jelly beans, and a liter of soda. Feeling somewhat better, I walked home. When I checked my blood/sugar level (after the jellybeans and soda) it measured 40. Since normal levels are between 90 & 120 I figure mine must have been in the teens. After that I took to wearing a fanny pack stuffed with Power Bars.

When I was 17, I got a horrible pain in my chest. I told my parents, and they told me it was just "stress". So I wandered around in excrutiating pain for three or four days. I actually got used to it, and figured out how to move in a way that didn't cause me pain. The I noticed that when I opened my mouth to brush my teeh, I could hear a squishing sound that went in the same rhythm as my heartbeat.
After some convincing that I didn't think it was stress, my parents told me to walk to the doctors office. Which was a mile and a half away. After getting there, and having all the tests come up negative for heart attack. The doctor asked me to walk to the hospital. which was on the other side of the island ( another mile or so ). I told him their was no way I could do that. So a patient offered me a ride. He was a stogey smoking ex marine.
So a dose of lethal second hand smoke later, I get taken to various xray rooms etc.
One half an hour later a nurse tells me that my doctor would like to talk to me. He says;"I'd like you to go to the emergency room"."Oh Really!?!" was my reply.
Turns out I had a collapsed lung.
But thats not the death thingy. After the chest tube insertion, they sent me up to my room. But not before giving me some morphine. About 20 minutes later I just turned to my mother ( who was just about to leave ) and very calmly said "Get Help".
I then went into severe shock. Seems I'm allergic to morphine. I can say it is truly weird feeling when you feel all your muscles go slack, and you can feel your bones sink into the hosptial bed because they've lost all support.
The last thing I remember was the voice of the nurse reading BP values and her voice getting more and more strained.
Then I flatlined ( so they tell me ).
Then I just remember seeing everyone in the room looking amazed, and in diferent places than they were before eveything went black.

Then there was the time I was opening a shop during a nor'easter in NYC. As I walked up, I felt something brush my back, and then heard an amazingly loud bang. I turned around and saw that I had missed getting my skull crushed by a clay 3 foot flower box that had fallen from the fifth story of the building the shop was in. Not even a scratch. I don't no why, but I just looked at it for a second, and then went back to opening the shop.

Several tree branches have tried the same thing. all just grazing me, and not leaving a mark.

And at least a half dozen times have I had other drivers test my driving skill, by pulling various things that the people in the car with me have thought were going to kill us.

Some friends think that death is a really poor shot in my case. Some day he'll get it right...

TG

[ Edited by: tikigardener on 2004-10-02 13:34 ]

I got heatstroke at Burning Man in 2001. I'd heard about heatstroke and how dangerous it was, but never really gave it much thought. After a typical alcohol fueled night of partying (which was my enebriant of choice - many preferred other substances so as to avoid dehydration) I went to my tent to sleep. I awoke about 3 hours later and walked to the nearest bank of porta-potties. At first I thought I was just groggy from no sleep, but it soon became apparent I was having some serious trouble. I became extremely confused on the way back to my tent. I waved down a passing Nevada state official in a golf cart and when I tried to speak, I couldn't form any words. I just blubbered out some sounds. The uniformed officers ignored me and drove away, apparently thinking me some drug-tripping loon. I was not on any drugs, so I had no confort that this would eventually "wear-off". A serious panic hit me and my motor skills were fading as I began stumbling down the street. I could literally feel parts of my brain shutting down, and even more panic set in. My brain felt hyper-compartmentalized: I could feel a thought in one corner, but couldn't get it to the other part where words were formed. It was a very out-of-body experience, like I was watching it happen to someone else. I honestly thought, "So this is what dying feels like".

I stumbled into the Ranger camp next to ours where they knew me, and they immdiately called for a vehicle and took me to the medical tent. I ended up getting 4 liters of saline over the next couple hours, which revived me pretty well. I was still terrified I was dying and tears ran uncontrollably from my eyes the whole time. I was so freaked out afterwards I packed my stuff and went home that night.

Went back the next year, no problems and had a great time.

Death flirts with me so often I have just learned to ignore his advances.

I drive in Florida traffic all day. Does that count?

Does it count if it was self inflicted?

I broke my leg a few years ago, which would have been a brush with death in the days before antibiotics (it was a compound fracture).

I was in the hospital for a few days after the surgery to put my leg back together. They gave me large quantities of IV fluids, so I had to pee s lot. The physical therapists hadn't shown me how to get around on crutches yet. I HAD TO USE A BEDPAN IN FRONT OF A MALE NURSE!!

Cynfulcynner,was he cute? It's always worse when they're cute.

On 2004-10-05 14:39, docwoods wrote:
Cynfulcynner,was he cute? It's always worse when they're cute.

He was! aaaaaaaagggghhhh!!

At age 10 I was hit by a car while walking my bike through a cross walk, which had a crossing guard and a yellow flashing light. The guy passed someone on the right...I flew 40' through the air, knocked unconcious. He put me in his car and drove me to the hospital, then took off. Not a smart thing to do. After cat scans, stitches on my head, and about 30 stitches on both my legs, all was ok. Was about 1/4 inch from loosing the use of a leg at the knee.
I'm still not too fond of cars, and always look both ways, twice, before crossing the street. I'm not sure if this was a brush with death or not, but it sure scared the crap out of me at the time.

When I was 20 I had the bright idea to skateboard down a super steep hill in a neighborhood under construction. I had been skating for about 10 years and it shouldn't have been a big deal...the only thing was I was wearing sandals. So, I'm going down this hill, everything is smooth and under control until a pick-up truck turns the corner...the next thing I know I'm waking up in a Medivac helicopter on my way to the trauma center. I later found out that I had hit a storm drain, flew off the board, smacked the pavement head first, convulsed on the ground and was out cold for over 10 minutes. Luckily I only escaped with a severe concusion and road rash down the entire right side of my body but no broken bones. Needless to say this was the beginning of the end of my skateboarding career!

On 2004-10-05 19:48, johntiki wrote:
Luckily I only escaped with a severe concusion and road rash down the entire right side of my body but no broken bones.

Road rash is nasty -- it's the real reason bicyclists shave their legs. Hair can trap germs that cause infection, so it's better to shave before getting road rash rather than after.

In 1994 I was riding a road bike on 17 Mile Drive when I hit a bump at 20 mph and went over the bars. My head (I was wearing a helmet) and the back of my right shoulder hit the ground, I stayed clipped into one of my pedals, and briefly blacked out. 17 Mile Drive, I found out, is a great place to do this sort of thing because the area is crawling with private security -- they got me an ambulance FAST. I had a concussion, a broken finger on my left hand, road rash on my shoulder, and my right collarbone was broken in two places. My condition would have been much worse if I hadn't been wearing a helmet.

ALWAYS wear a helmet while on a bike, and make sure the straps are tightened properly!

bike accidents are not fun! the last time I was on a bike I got "doored." It's only funny in the movies.

I blacked out and came to laying in the busy street of Bancroft in front of UC Berkeley. Luckily, no one ran me over. Not sure what happened but I have a nice long scar on my right bicep and my grandmother's rings had to be cut off my hands due to the swelling.

Thank god I was wearing a helmet too! Amen!

My then boyfriend had been wise/anal enough to put me on his car insurance since I was driving his car a lot, and wise enough to call AAA to see if his car insurance covered my bike accident! it did! AAA gave me a small sum of money under the "uninsured motorist" or something like that for my injuries, and then AAA pursued the hapless student who doored me, walked me to the campus ER, gave me his name & info, but then never responded to my calls.

I have tried to ride a bike since then, but I'm just too scared now. I feel much safer darting around large cars when I'm in one myself - it's nice to be surrounded by all that steel.

Helmets really save alot of lives...it's staggering how many cycleists killed in crashes would be alive if they had them.

I do alot of bullshitting in these rambles, but this helmet rant worth taking note of.

On 2004-10-06 14:13, Gigantalope wrote:
Helmets really save alot of lives...it's staggering how many cycleists killed in crashes would be alive if they had them.

Let me emphasize here that helmets must be worn correctly (strapped down tight) for them to work. I see too many people, especially children, wearing helmets on the backs of their heads (so they won't mess up their hair?) or with loose and/or unbuckled straps.

Bicycle helmets are MANDATORY for all riders under 18 in California.

When I was hit by that car it was 1988 and helmets were neither manditory nor worn very much anyhow. You can bet I wear one now! It's been the law in BC since 1996..they even give out $29 tickets!
-Tw

It's not people who are road splatter...they moslty would be in the same condition with a helmet.

It's the people who just look intact, like they just dozed off that get to you.Maybe they hit the ground wrong, or thier head hit a car mirror...they make up about 85% of casualties.

At my old job I transported exhibits for Govt Agencies, and those were really heart wrenching, because...when you see so so so many, they seem stupidly preventable.

(I sound like your grandma)

Don't re-use your brain bucket either...once it's been hit hard, it's ability to absorb shock is diminished...but it's your head...and 50.00 is alot of money

...crikies, my skin's beginning to creep.

Makes me wish Bike Hemets looked like Fez's...we'd all be safe then.

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-10-07 08:28 ]

As far as flirts with death go, I've fallen down a cliff face: to be snagged by a large friend about 10 feet below me with his arm around a tree. He grabbed my jacket with his free arm as I went by and swung me back up to the slim ledge he was standing on. It would have been a 200 foot(?) fall. I was very fortunate he was there and aware.

[ Edited by: foamy on 2004-10-07 06:25 ]

Almost drown twice.

Almost hung twice. (Accident while playing, both times, no death wish here!)

One emergency landing

I will elaborate on the emergency landing, because it is more in line with the board and it was the only time I came close to death as an adult. My wife and I were headed to Maui for our honeymoon. The second leg of our flight was going from Atlanta to the big island. I don’t remember what type of plane it was, but it had a large screen showing a map and an image of the plane on the map. About 45 minutes into the flight, the plane shuttered. I didn’t think much of it. Turbulence is what it is. Then the plane started banking and eventually on the monitor we saw the plane was now headed back to Atlanta. A puzzled look came across most of the people around us. One of the flight attendants walked back to the monitor and turned it off, not saying a word and avoiding any eye contact with the passengers. Everyone started chattering and wanted to know what was going on. About 10 minutes after the monitor was turned off the pilot made an announcement. I don’t remember his exact words but he said that fire sensor for one of the engines had lit up and he had gone ahead and shut that engine down. He then began to assure us that the plane can function on the remaining engines, but we had to immediately return to Atlanta. My wife asked me if they were kidding. I told her that that is not exactly the kind of thing they kid about. We had a full load of fuel to get to Hawaii, which is not easy or safe to land with. After we got closer to Atlanta we had to circle around for about 25 minutes dumping our fuel. The pilot made a few more announcements. One of the more memorable announcements was the one letting us know that it is normal to have emergency equipment on the runway for an emergency landing. My wife about had a cow! We made our landing and shortly after the tires hit the runway, everyone cheered.

I guess every time you get on a plane you could be thinking well this could be it. I had never felt this way until the pilot made the announcement about the fire sensor. Unlike the other times when I came close to death, I never had so much time to think about it. I wasn’t scared, I was just sad because there was so much more I wanted to do before I died.