Sharing some hair-raising experiences on the road

**istoyoboy** · October 29th, 2005 04:32 AM

Lets see, lately I've been thinking about my adventures on the open highway. Well specifically my extremely offensive driving. Where I come from, a majority of the vehicles on the roads I plod never see the other side of 30 (kph that is), so when you're in a vehicle with a respectable amount of horsepower you wouldn't want to mirror everyone else's progress, or lack thereof, would you? Ok, so it's all relative. See if I were on the autobahn, then the definition of 'offensive driving' would be in another dimension entirely. Ahhh, but then notice I placed 'extremely' as a qualifier!

So let's get to the adventures, specifically ones of the life-endangering kind.

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DISCLAIMER: The following behavior is not encouraged. It is potentially life-threatening. Please leave high-speed driving off of public roads that have not been designed for it. Drive defensively and safely for the sake of your life and that of others, human or otherwise.
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Scenario A: Imagine a two-lane concrete road barely 20 feet across with run-offs on both sides. This road is elevated relative to the surrounding terrain by 3-5 feet. This is an example of a "highway" around these here parts. Now imagine travelling down this highway at no less than 180kph. The vehicle is occupied by 5 souls, one of whom is a tad overweight. He is seated on the right side of the back seat, you hear a high-pitched humming sound, an indication of increased airflow and/or wind resistance from that side as the air passes in between the right-rear tire and the chassis due to the imbalance in payload weight. At any moment a wandering carabao (water buffalo) can do a little hop onto the "highway" to get to the greener patch of grass on the other side...cool.

Scenario B: It's almost 11pm. It's pitch dark, since our highways don't have halogen street lamps out there in the middle of nowhere. I see 480km on the odometer which I reset that morning before setting out, yet I'm still 2 hours away from home. I'm travelling at a good 100kph clip playing chicken with the unseen beyond the reach of my headlights at high beam. Some folks around here, mind you, don't realize the importance of functioning headlights. There I am singing my heart out to some rad christian pop when I notice the dim headlight of an oncoming pedicab (motorized-tricycle) on the opposing lane. I give it no second thought as I prepare my vocal chords for the tenor-pitched chorus (like I had a chance to reach that friggin note)... that's when sudden terror grips me as I notice the concrete road on my side suddenly drop down to a 10-foot pile of rocks (why are our roads perpetually under friggin repair??!!! And there's not even a hint of a warning sign!!!

). This is where the singing turns to screaming (hey, I CAN reach that note!) That pedicab (probably doing all of 30kph) is blocking the only way to preventing CFIT (controlled flight into terrain). I slam on the brakes and at the last second just before I go over, the pedicab clears the good part of the road and I swerve hard (roll-over warning... hey, I still woulda died anyway) to get on that patch of good road, I swear the outer half of my right-side tires had nothing to work on for traction. Okay hold the singing for when I get home...

Scenario C: Going home from the north. Again it's the middle of the night and it's pitch dark on our "highway". My headlights are on low beam. I strike up a conversation with my passenger, and we start laughing our heads off. In the distance a lone headlight. Looks like it's running on a pair of AA batteries. Hey the road's a bit wider, that motorcyle in the distance looks like its hugging the opposite side of the road anyway. No problem if I drive down the centerline then (offensive driving of the worst kind), right? Wrong. Two seconds before my ride and the motorcycle pass each other, I do a cautionary flick to engage high-beam. That motorcycle has instantly transformed into a 10-ton dump truck with a busted headlight on one side, and I'm heading right for it. I clear the friggin truck by 2 feet. Heck, if you can afford a truck, you can at least scrounge up enough to buy a light bulb!

Scenario D: It's raining frogs and I'm headed north on another business trip. I'm taking the AUV for this trip. It's the open road and I've crossed into another province with more respectably sized highways, so my foot becomes a lead weight. Hmm, what's that on my rearview mirror, woah there nelly, a sedan overtakes me. My foot triples in weight. Here begins the chase... I stick to his/her? butt for the next 10 miles, on the long stretches I slowly catch up but when we get to the twisty bits, the lower profile bugger ooozes away. I smirk, ey mate, if I had your ride I'd put it to good use. Pick up the pace kid! We're now on a slope heading down the curve to a bridge, the road's wet, so many frogs I can't see more than 200 meters ahead. The sedan has pulled away again, it gets through the curve and over the bridge no problem. I enter the curve, when suddenly my rear tires lose it. Induced oversteer! I'm now headed for the bridge rails...(so this is how it looks before you go over...), inspiration from heaven - i get the presence of mind to take my foot off the gas, a slight twitch of the wheel to the left, another correction to the right... I'm through the bridge on the highway centerline. If there had been anyone on the opposing lane...satiate your imagination.

Scenario E: Ok heading south in the sedan. EBD, ABS, stiff suspension, SRS airbag, seatbelt fastened. I'm invincible. I admire the sugar fields on both sides of the road. Traffic is light. I turn right onto a stretch of highway at least 1 mile long and it's deserted. Let's see what this baby can do. Lead foot engaged. Into fourth and I'm about to hit 170. Oh yeah there's a descending curve up ahead. Foot off the gas...ooops hit the curve a bit hot. I overshoot the apex and head straight onto the wrong side of the road at the bottom of the slope. I overshoot the opposing lane and hit the gravel with my left-rear tire as I try to recover. The tire kicks up a lot of dirt, and my rear tires lose traction. I swerve right to get the car on the correct side of the road just missing a truck on the opposing lane. But darn it there's a line of 30kph pedicabs on my lane! I swerve onto the opposing lane once again just missing the butt-end of the truck. But the manuever threatens to spin the car, so I turn hard right, only to see I haven't passed all the pedicabs yet, to the left I go, uurk! the gravel...to the right it is! Thank God there isn't any more opposing traffic as I do a slalom course like in a competition from hell on the opposing lane, i probably woulda won Gold...

Well that's just the tip of the iceberg from my ten years of plying the "highways" of the province. Happy driving!!!

**albert_b** · November 3rd, 2005 06:10 PM

Dapat may disclaimer na ... "Do not try this on your own" or "'wag tularan, nakamamatay!" hahaha ... ingats lang sa pagmamaneho p're.

**JohnM** · November 3rd, 2005 06:28 PM

One of the things I learned from my dad is to assume that the single headlight you're meeting on a dark and lonely highway has an 18-wheeler right behind it.

We were cruising at 120 kph. There was a tricycle up ahead so I moved a bit to the left to pass it. Tricycle driver decided to do a quick U-turn

If you think that the Manila jeepneys that load and unload anywhere they please are demons incarnate then you haven't experienced having a jeepney suddenly stop in front of you while you're following it at a good clip. The jeepney's taillights cannot be seen because some pigs are tied to the running board

**mazdamazda** · November 3rd, 2005 07:00 PM

Unless you are in the NLEX, I don't see any patch of road here in the Philippines that can safely take more than 100-120kph at night time.

There are lots and lots of debris / pedestrian / motorcycle / animal that you can potentially hit. I've personally ran over a 2x2 with our sedan (the wheel cracked) and a tire with our SUV (the tire bursted), am and just doing between 60-80kph when that occurred. Imagine what would happen if that happens at 180kph.

**istoyoboy** · November 3rd, 2005 09:22 PM

Great advice mga pre. These things happened at least 3 years ago and I've learned to lighten my foot. Thank GOd I didn't have to experience a horrible accident to realize that going fast on public roads isn't the smartest thing to do. Your not only endangering yourself but every living or non-living thing that has the potential to share the same space as your vehicle.

I do not encourage this kind of behavior to any law-abiding, life-loving individual. Save it for the track.

But, come on, I'm sure you've done something stupid even once in your driving life.

Drive safely people!

**ian_rex** · November 4th, 2005 12:18 PM

istoyboy: perhaps, try to be more careful when you drive, if you are planning to get up to speed, then try to arrange it by bringing it on the track-not on the public road. whilst it is quite tempting to do just that, you can never be so sure, and i presume, you're careful enough, but other drivers weren't for god's sake. sure, anybody wants to go fast, but do it modestly.

**istoyoboy** · November 4th, 2005 11:14 PM

Originally Posted by ian_rex

istoyboy: perhaps, try to be more careful when you drive, if you are planning to get up to speed, then try to arrange it by bringing it on the track-not on the public road. whilst it is quite tempting to do just that, you can never be so sure, and i presume, you're careful enough, but other drivers weren't for god's sake. sure, anybody wants to go fast, but do it modestly.

Exactly ian_rex, please take note of the disclaimer on my first post.

**mazdamazda** · November 4th, 2005 11:22 PM

Good point istoyoboy... since we are not angels on the road at all the time... here goes mine:

I was travelling along the "autobahn" portion (no speed limit posted) of the NLEX at a fast clip... around 140kph when I chanced upon an Altis 1.8 on the overtaking lane. Since I am faster, I signalled to him to move the right lane. After a few headlight flashes he wasn't moving so I signalled & went to the right to overtake him.

When I was overtaking him, the bugger then accelerated suddenly to match me. At first, I thought that something was wrong with my car since I wasn't overtaking him but I soon realized that he was accelerating... time to drop from 5th gear to 3rd gear at 120kph.

We were evenly matched in accelerating... but upon hitting around 160kph I saw a slow-moving car ahead of me. As if on cue, I was suddenly able to overtake him at around 175kph... then cut in front of him (since I have to swerve away from the slow-moving car). But then, I saw the exit sign to my destination... just 100 meters away... another abrupt swerve to the right through 3 lanes of highway.

**istoyoboy** · November 5th, 2005 03:13 PM

Woah at those speeds the exit would have been barely 2 seconds away. That was one major swerve.

**gearspeed** · November 5th, 2005 09:44 PM

I was travelling along the "autobahn" portion (no speed limit posted) of the NLEX at a fast clip... around 140kph when I chanced upon an Altis 1.8 on the overtaking lane. Since I am faster, I signalled to him to move the right lane. After a few headlight flashes he wasn't moving so I signalled & went to the right to overtake him.

When I was overtaking him, the bugger then accelerated suddenly to match me. At first, I thought that something was wrong with my car since I wasn't overtaking him but I soon realized that he was accelerating... time to drop from 5th gear to 3rd gear at 120kph.

We were evenly matched in accelerating... but upon hitting around 160kph I saw a slow-moving car ahead of me. As if on cue, I was suddenly able to overtake him at around 175kph... then cut in front of him (since I have to swerve away from the slow-moving car). But then, I saw the exit sign to my destination... just 100 meters away... another abrupt swerve to the right through 3 lanes of highway.

astig yun ah 175kph tapos mageexit..Parang gusto ko subukan sa RAV4 namin yun ah... Ang nagawa ko lang na pagdrop sa gear ay from 5th gear to 3rd gear din kaso sa isang curve yun...