I think everyone has had one or if not, they should.
Mine occurred in the spring of 1976 while driving south on the "Sea to Sky" Highway north of Vancouver, B.C. where I lived at the time. The road leads from Whistler Mountain Resort down to Squamish.
At that time I wasn't familiar with the road. Also at the time I was young and stupid. I was at the time, 22.
I remember travelling up the road toward Whistler, the tires on my recently purchased 1969 Fiat 124 Coupe squealing as I took curves much too aggressively. Of course I was a young male and felt immortal. I was having a blast.
I remember it all like it was last week. The road was not well travelled, Whistler was not near the destination resort it is today and it was the off season.
So the road was empty and there was a nice downhill stretch of maybe a half mile. I depressed the accelerator and I remember seeing the speedometer hit 97 mph before a curve ahead told me that I needed to slow down.
It was a gentle high speed curve to the right and I remember entering it at about 70 mph, I was still on a gentle downhill slope.
As I rounded the curve, now heading west I looked ahead down the road only to see a T Junction not 200 yards or so down the road where a vehicle was stopped at the stop sign. My instincts told me that if I did not start braking right way there was no way I was going to stop in time.
That's when the trouble began. I'm not sure if my brakes were improperly adjusted or the fact that I STILL HAD SNOW TIRES ON MY REAR WHEELS but from the moment I touched the brakes I lost control of the vehicle.
Most people know what it is like to drive on ice and lose traction, you feel helpless. This is how it was. My steering inputs were of no use, I tried to shift down and control the wheel at the same time, but the car had a mind of its own.
On my right was the rock wall of a slope, on my left was a 4 to 6 foot drop to pasture land. The car meandered from one edge of the asphalt to the other, all over both lanes. I was helpless to control it and I was getting ever so near to the car still parked at the stop sign.
For the last 50 ft or so the car slid sideways and came to rest 3 to 5 feet from the back bumper of that car at that stop sign. The whole episode might have taken 10 seconds.
I still remember seeing the old couple inside looking left and right, no doubt wondering where the screech of rubber had come from. They looked everywhere but behind them. They had no awareness of what had happened to me.
You know if you have read my previous posts that I am not a religious man. But every time I proclaim my atheism I can't help but think of this experience.
Something kept me on that road. Maybe it was just physics, but honestly it was like a Guardian Angel put his hand out whenever I was just about to go off the road and kept me on the pavement. If I had gone off at that speed, I would no doubt have died or at the very least had very serious injuries. I can't remember if I had a seat belt on.
I don't think it really sunk in at the time how close I came to death. I continued to act and drive pretty stupid for several years to follow.
I've replayed this over in my mind several times and the only real feeling I get is not one of fear, or thrill or relief. It's the feeling that someone or something intervened and kept me on that road.
