People Describe Worst Events Narrowly Avoided

From Redditoru/ImNotThatGirlEither:

[My husband], my sister, and I hung out at my parents' house on a boring Fourth of July. We decided to wash my husband's new car in the driveway because it was hot and an excuse to play with the hose.

We were walking out the front door. I said, "Eh, we should eat lunch before we get all wet," and everyone agreed. So, we turned around and went back inside.

I was warming something in the microwave. Suddenly, I heard the loudest BANG I ever heard from the front door. Hubs and I looked at each other, wide-eyed, and ran outside.

A Crown Vic back end greeted me. It smoked something fierce and plowed into the tree in our yard. For a second, I was stunned. Then, I screamed for my sister inside to call 911. I looked toward the driveway, seeing the car we had planned to wash just five minutes earlier.

It was totaled. Completely totaled. The brand new 2011 G6 was destroyed. The guy hit it so hard it spun a complete 90 degrees across the driveway. He hit it so hard it ricocheted, hitting other cars in the driveway and mauling two other vehicles.

We instantly thought it was drunk driving because it was the Fourth. I went to the driver's side and found an old man. He looked bewildered, unable to understand what I said, but he was conscious. I will never forget his look—confused, helpless, scared. I spoke to the paramedics while they sent ambulances, trying hard to follow their orders.

The man turned out to be diabetic. He passed out behind the wheel from low blood sugar. He hit the gas pedal with his weight while unconscious, plowing down our street at about 65 mph. He jumped the curb, drove down the sidewalk past another house, then slammed into my husband's car, and then the tree.

If we had been near that yard or driveway, one or all of us would have been seriously hurt or dead. Sheer luck and timing saved us. A huge bullet dodged... or a huge car dodged.

From Redditoru/paydayson:

My dad drove a truck in the Canadian oilfield. He worked long hours every day. On weekends, he took my younger brother and me to his jobs. We waited at the location, my three-year-old brother and I, playing in the truck cab.

My little brother opened the passenger door; my little arms closed it. The job ended. We started driving home at about 35 kph. The door flew open, and I got sucked out of the truck. I recall doing about ten backflips while tumbling out. I hit the ground on my back a few times, then rolled to a stop. I stood up before the truck stopped, completely shocked. I saw my dad looking for me, and he started crying. That was the first time I ever saw him cry.

I am 33. He still won't talk to me about it. Luckily, the rig was in a farmer's field. When we left, I landed on softer dirt. I got no scratches. Dad thought he ran me over with the trailer. I never worked with Dad again. I work for the company now.

From Redditoru/EmperorHans:

I had a cardiac arrest about four years ago. I died in the middle of my shift. I learned about it a week later after waking up:

A) The manager who saw me fall was a former lifeguard and knew CPR.

B) An ambulance passed about two blocks away.

Probably the best cardio unit in my state was a ten-minute ambulance ride from where it all happened.

I left the hospital two weeks later, fully recovered.

From Redditoru/VoodooSquad:

My newborn needed a top-tier NICU. They put him in induced hypothermia because he had only hours before permanent brain damage. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

The small town next door just upgraded their hospital with that hypothermia suite. It is one of only a few in Texas.

He is doing great; there is no damage.

From Redditoru/LackingUtility:

I drove with my wife in town one snowy evening. We stopped at a light. I glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw a city bus heading toward us, turning sideways. I hit the gas, pulled ahead into the intersection, and entered the turning lane. Less than a second later, the bus slid right where our car was. It stopped on the other side. Fortunately, it missed everything, but a second or two difference would have caused serious spinal injuries.

From Redditoru/khendron:

Many years ago, my flight landed at Chicago O'Hare. The plane was taxiing when the pilot slammed the brakes. People were thrown forward against their seats. Seconds later, another plane, taking off I think, screamed past us.

No one gave an explanation, but our imaginations created gory details.

From Redditoru/seeing_red415:

I walked downtown Chicago street. I heard a loud bang then a woman screamed. Someone dropped a full two-liter soda bottle from the 13th floor; it missed me. That bottle was like a giant bullet at that height and speed. The woman screaming was about five feet behind me (she was the second closest to being hit). I believe that bottle would have killed me.

From Redditoru/The_Chonto:

I stayed awake all night before a day trip to Hong Kong. You know that feeling when you haven't slept? You become robotic, doing human things with almost no awareness of anything?

I crossed the street. My friend behind me snatched my shoulder and pulled me back just as a double-decker bus rushed by. I just told him, "Oh, thanks, man." It took my brain a full minute to catch up that he grabbed me or I would have died.

From Redditoru/Deadthrow742:

A few years ago, I had pneumonia. My family insisted it was just post-nasal drip, which runs in the family. After a week or two, I woke up in the middle of the night unable to feel my arm. The doctor at the ER said it was the worst he had ever seen. He was surprised I lived.

I had three pounds of mucus cut from my lungs. Two more weeks in the hospital siphoned out the rest.

For three months, I could barely walk half a mile without passing out. I could not run more than 200-300 yards without collapsing.

From Redditoru/ThadisJones:

A field service engineer worked on my large robotic liquid handler. He bypassed the safety pin that stops the heads from moving when the cover is open. He did not know that when he put the safety pin back in, the machine ran the queued instructions and started moving. He had a hand inside the danger zone.

I grabbed his shoulder and yanked his hand out before it got crushed. I told him to stop bypassing safety lockouts to save a few minutes. He stopped ignoring me.

From Redditoru/well_uh_yeah:

My great-aunt died. I helped clean her house, dragging everything out of the basement. Suddenly, my dad said, "Whoa! Put that down gently, and let's move away from here." I put the strange metal tube down and left.

It turned out to be a mortar shell from when my aunt worked in a munitions factory during WWII. The bomb squad took it away.

From Redditoru/alex_harold:

As a kid, I ran errands with my mom. I climbed into the back seat of our family station wagon. A semi-truck hit a power line pole down the street. The live wire fell, bounced off the car roof, and hung across the open door just a foot or two above my legs.

Raised Catholic, I wondered if I had died that day. I thought the rest of my life was purgatory.

From Redditoru/excessofexcuses:

I survived a rocket attack that landed about 10 meters from me, very close to where we were standing.

We stood so near the launch site that the warning alarm sounded after the rocket hit. We dove under a vehicle for shelter. The three of us got through without injury.

From Redditoru/Worlds_Best_Coffee:

A friend lost his job under shady conditions. Weeks later, he asked me to drive him to the bank. As I pulled up to pick him up, I saw a train. He called, saying forget it; he would find someone else.

A few days later, a friend messaged many friends. The message claimed a guy lost his job and ran a check cashing con. He asked, "Can you cash this check for me? I'll pay you $50 if you do." The check was $500. He had no backing funds; you eat the whole amount. He did this to several friends over a few days to gather some money. He was about to leave when the police caught him.

From Redditoru/mlahut:

During my freshman year of college, I took a calculus class. I knew the material, but for some reason, they denied me transfer credit. So, I skipped class often.

Normally I sleep in. One morning, I woke at 8:30, not feeling sleepy. I decided to check the class and see what happened.

It was the midterm exam.