I’m posting this in freelance scribbler mode, so please be aware before replying that information is for publication.
Have you had a BIG crash? Something like a major jacknife…a rollover…a head-on/rear ender? A PROPER big crash? Or even been actively involved in a fatal or near fatal accident?
Are you willing to spare a few minutes over the period between Xmas and New Year to talk to me about the accident itself and how it’s affected you and your driving since? Are you happy to be indentified by your full real name?
If you can answer yes to the above, please drop me a PM! This is a really difficult subject for those “in the club”, so rest assured all interviews will be done sensitively - I’ve had a near-fatal jacknife myself, so I know how it feels!
I’m looking for about 11 or 12 people (have a couple in the pipeline from outside the forums) if possible.
Please DO NOT post about your experiences here, I need the material to be original when it goes to press.
Here’s my crash, I jack-knifed at 56mph when I braked too late for a bend in the rain and then rolled her over at Chudova, about 150km south of St Petersburg on my way to Moscow, around 1997.
Well, as I headed sideways towards the scenery I thought “This is it. I’m about to die”. And then I went sideways, upwards, over, I demolished four trees and 100m of fence on the way. And then every Russian peasant for miles around came along and ransacked my trailer.
Still, never mind, I didn’t get a scratch so it’s a lesson for the learning. I drive far more slowly on wet roads now.
I nearly made it to the end of Lucy’s post but I have a notoriously short attention span…
And with the greatest of respect Harrymonk, you have posted this before, so fails to come within Lucy’s remit.
But glad you still here to tell the tale. I have nothing so dramatic to tell anyone…my biggest disaster was getting the truck stuck in a field. Not exactly rivetting material
So let`s get this right…Lucy needs death, destruction and general misery to be ‘original’ Just so it can be published…Funny old world that we live in aint it…
att:
So let`s get this right…Lucy needs death, destruction and general misery to be ‘original’ Just so it can be published…Funny old world that we live in aint it…
or perhaps because she wants to write something different, not just the bare facts but how that accident has changed the way a person drives, views the job or even how they view life. I dont know because she hasnt told me how she wants to formulate the article- I do know that the one major accident I have been personaly involved with affected me immensley and still does.
I doubt very much this is a "My crash was bigger than your crash " article, More a look at the forgotten after effects on such an event. and hopefully a insight for those who have never gone through it, and if they are unlucky enough too to know that they are not the first or the only ones to feel in such a way.
As I said , I dont know what Lucy’s take on this article will be, but I do know Lucy and i doubt if its blood guts and gore she is after
att:
So let`s get this right…Lucy needs death, destruction and general misery to be ‘original’ Just so it can be published…Funny old world that we live in aint it…
att:
So let`s get this right…Lucy needs death, destruction and general misery to be ‘original’ Just so it can be published…Funny old world that we live in aint it…
or perhaps because she wants to write something different, not just the bare facts but how that accident has changed the way a person drives, views the job or even how they view life. I dont know because she hasnt told me how she wants to formulate the article- I do know that the one major accident I have been personaly involved with affected me immensley and still does.
I doubt very much this is a "My crash was bigger than your crash " article, More a look at the forgotten after effects on such an event. and hopefully a insight for those who have never gone through it, and if they are unlucky enough too to know that they are not the first or the only ones to feel in such a way.
As I said , I dont know what Lucy’s take on this article will be, but I do know Lucy and i doubt if its blood guts and gore she is after
I totally understand that.
This last year I was with a very good friend who died in a motorcycle accident (involving a LGV) and three years before had a driver die in my arms just before christmas…I was actually veiwing it from the perspective of someone who has been involved in two fatalaties in recent years…Not to mention the families and the children left behind, even down to the Police ■■■■■■ at the funeral because they were so popular…Such is life I guess.
Att…That, my dear, is the point. Plus it’s something no-one ever talks about, really. I personally had no idea how many people I knew who had had these experiences until I had one myself. Then it was like being admitted to some unseen “club”, where only those who had been there were allowed. Your story would be good to include, if you’re happy to tell it.
I know that seeing my life flash before my eyes as it did when that truck locked up and came 'round on me one clear, sunny morning, instilled in me a respect for the vehicles I was driving and the damage they can do which has stayed with me ever since, and sincerely believe I’m a safer driver as a consequence. The point of this feature is to share that knowledge with those who are fortunate enough not to have learnt the hard way, as well as look at the conspiracy of silence that surrounds the whole thing.
Thanks to those who have PM’d…I have to go and pick up an abused greyhound from Sheffield, will reply when I get back.
Ps. Harry…If I remember rightly, your crash happened in Russia? I’d still be up for your story if you’re up for telling it…It’s another aspect on the whole thing which would be interesting to cover - The questions I’ll be asking are unlikely to have been talked about on here anyway.
att:
So let`s get this right…Lucy needs death, destruction and general misery to be ‘original’ Just so it can be published…Funny old world that we live in aint it…
