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In reply to the discussion: "She stood up on her seat, raised her fists in the air and yelled, 'Airbags!'” [View all]Amaril
(1,267 posts)Several years ago, I was heading to visit family on Christmas eve. It was raining like mad, and I was going about 35 in the right lane. My right front tire hit a puddle, hydroplaned, and I did exactly what you are NOT supposed to do (i.e., braked and turned my wheel the opposite direction) -- it wasn't a conscious choice - I simply reacted. My 4 Runner began to spin counter-clockwise, and I did a complete rotation before sliding into the median sideways. The vehicle slid completely across the median, spraying grass & mud all over the side of it, and I wound up facing north in the inside south bound lane before it just kind of gently rolled backwards, back into the median.
After it was over, I let out a whoop like you've never heard and exclaimed "I rode the bull, baby!" (I have no idea why), and sat there shaking like a leaf for at least two minutes before I had the presence of mind to put the car in park (it stalled out during it's little jaunt) and restarted the engine.
The truly amazing parts are: 1) I didn't flip over while side-sliding across the median, and 2) right before this incident took place and right after it, both the north & south bound lanes were bumper-to-bumper traffic, but while this was happening, there wasn't another car around in either direction (thank the stars -- the only conscious thought I had while it was happening was "Please don't let me hit anyone else!" .