I am driving down the expressway to work. I am doing about 70-75 mph, which is about 5-15 mph slower than I often do through this stretch of road. (I often go 80-85 mph through there.) I am in the lane that is about to become the HOV lane. After 10 a.m. I can be in that lane, and it is 10:20.
Suddenly the large truck to my right decides he wants to be in the HOV lane, so he swerves hard to the left.
There's not much I can do. At 70 mph and in 5th gear, there's no way I can give myself an extra burst of acceleration to avoid an accident. There is a concrete barrier to my left, and the large truck to my right. I can brake, but even that is unlikely to prevent an accident because there isn't time. I do the only thing I can. I swerve to the left, coming within inches of the barrier, step on my brakes, and start honking.
Just when I think there is no hope, when there is no more room to my left and I am convinced I am about to get pinned at high speed between a concrete barrier and a large truck, he swerves sharply to the right. He must have heard my honking and/or seen me to his left.
All this happened in the span of about a second. I came so close to being pancaked or possibly even flipped over the barrier into opposing traffic, and there was nothing I could do about it. I felt completely helpless.
I was rattled. I should have pulled over at the next opportunity, but I was only a few exits from work. But I nearly got in an another accident a few minutes later...and this one would have been my fault. I was making a routine lane change, but panicked about something, and for a moment I lost control of my truck. I recovered quickly, but obviously my confidence had been shaken by the first near miss.
It'll take the rest of the day to simmer down.
