Share your driving close call and we’ll post your story here. Just that quickly, you’ll earn 9,000 It Happens Rewards Points good toward fantastic free stuff worth over $25!

Tell us what happened. Where were you? Were you driving or riding along? Why did it happen? We’re looking for near misses and “Oh, %*#$!” moments from the road, including tales like these:

• You’re on the phone and zipping up 680, when traffic suddenly slams to a stop
• Your friend is driving and watching everything but the road
• After running a stop sign, you swerve to miss your neighbor’s dog
• You reach down to grab that French fry and almost rear-end the car ahead of you
• Heading home from a late movie, you nearly fall asleep at the wheel
• You look down and realize you’re doing 90 or 100 on 680

Give us your story by Sunday, November 25 at 11:00 p.m.!

 

Here are some stories already submitted:

"I was driving my mom to the San Ramon Library a couple weeks after I got my permit. We were driving down Bollinger Canyon Road, and I wasn't paying very close attention to what I was doing. My mind wandered off, and I started thinking about other things like school and my plans for the weekend. I was about to drive past the place where I was supposed to turn left, and at the last minute I realized that I needed to get into the left turn lane. I swerved into the left turn lane very quickly and nearly hit the car in front of me. Also, the car behind me honked its horn because I had slowed down so quickly right in front of him. Luckily, it was able to slow down enough to avoid hitting me, but it was a very close call. I was very lucky that the car behind me was paying attention to his driving, or else we would have definitely got in an accident. I was very scared, and I could tell my mom was scared, too. I realized that a simple mistake like changing lanes too fast could cause a very bad accident. I definetly learned my lesson after that, and I became more aware of the consequences of my actions while I am driving. Now, whenever I am driving, I always make sure that I'm not distracted, and that I am completely focused on the road. This way, I will be prepared for anything, I will even be ready if other drivers make a mistake. This experience helped me learn from my mistakes and make me a better driver."
- Coki, San Ramon Valley High School student

"I was driving with a cousin, who is in high school. His mom was in the passenger seat. We were driving home from the skate park, some road in Walnut Creek. Near a hospital. We were tired from skating and he was playing with the radio. His mom was asking him not to fool around while he was driving, but instead of listening he pulled out his phone and started texting. A patient from the hospital started pulling out and my cousin smashed into the passenger side. We were fine, but the passenger of the car we hit had just come from the hospital after a head injury. He was rushed back into the hospital to se if he was ok, he ended up not reinjuring himself, but it was a close call. It showed us to never be distracted while driving."
- Ian, San Ramon Valley High School student

"I was driving down Crow Canyon alone on my way to Chipotle. I was thinking about sitting down, eating a burrito, and hanging out with my friends as I was fiddling with my new radio when it happened. As I was crossing through the intersection, I hit a red light, but I didn't realize it until it was too late to slow down. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a big SUV coming off of the freeway on my right. I thought if I sped up I would miss hitting it, but a few seconds later I heard a loud crunch and I felt myself shake as its front bumper hit the right side panel of my car. Shocked by the fact that I had been hit, I slowly made my way off the road. The other driver was a mother and she was furious. She yelled at me for not paying attention, said I had endangered her kids, and that she had called the police. My car was a little beat up but still driveable. The police man was nice considering the circumstances. I just know that I never want to get into an accident again for something that could easily be avoided because the next time it could be a lot worse!"
- Cati, San Ramon Valley High student

"I was riding in a car with my friends and a friend's brother was driving and there were about 12 of us in the car. My friends and I were all piled in the back seat and while we were driving along, a cop sees us and glimpses over and sees that there are a lot of people in the car. My friend's brother had actually just gotten his license back because it had gotten taken away because he was in an accident. Well, the cop pulled him over and looked in the backseat and saw that there were a lot of girls. So the cop had made us all get out and gave my friend's brother a ticket for too many people in the car. He had to pay about $600 because of the amount of people in his car. While he was talking to the cop we had to walk home because we knew we weren't going to be allowd back in the car. The moral of the story is that you should never have more people in the car than the number of seat belts there are."
- Lauren, SRVHS student

"I was driving with my friend's mom while we were on our way home from a baseball tournament. We had just found out we were in the championship game when she made an illegal U-turn which resulted in the oncoming traffic to nearly hit us. At this point I was somewhat scared, but I thought it could have just been a mistake. As we reached Danville Boulevard, I got nervous because she was already goin 40 in a 25 zone and she didn't show signs of slowing down. We were reaching a yellow light when she then slammed the accelator to make the light, we just missed being bulldozed by a truck when a small suv clipped the back of our car which sent us twirling. The force of the car hitting us was crazy it wasn't going that fast but it hit us in such a vulnerable spot that we went flying. The thought of being hit even harder again is what scares me the most about driving and I will never get into the car with someone I don't completely trust again. The moral of the story is to not get into a car with someone you don't know, and that even if someone just looks responsible doesn't always mean that they are responsible."
- Patrick, SRVHS student

On March 23, 1999, I was on my way home from soccer practice. My parents were in the city that night so my brother was watching me. He came to pick me up like any regular day. On the way home we picked up one of my brother’s friends to take over to our house. We were supposed to stop and go to Blockbuster to rent a movie for the night. So here we were driving up Camino Tassajara to Blackhawk for Blockbusters. At the Woodranch intersection, a man pulled up next to us at the red light. He immediately flashed his headlights at my brother's Mustang looking for a race up the road. My brother ignored him. Once the light turned green, the man stepped on the gas and sped off and would not let us back in the lane. My brother began to fight back by speeding up and slowing down, until finally we had rear ended a small semi truck and totaled the whole bumper of the car, and the air bags went off. It was one of the scariest moments of my life and one I will never forget. Moral of the story...... never try to fight back to aggressively."
- Drew, SRVHS student

"I was on the highway with my friend and we were going to a sports camp in San José. My friend was driving and there was barely any traffic. There was this suspicious driver near us, but we kept driving. As we were passing the car on the right of the suspicious driver, the driver suddenly starts coming into our lane without even looking for any cars. I noticed the car coming over before we could be hit, but we were inches away from being hit. Thankfully, there were no cars to the left of us or we would have gotten into an accident and either of us could have gotten hurt. It happened because the other car was paying attention to any cars on the road and didn't signal."
- Taylor, SRVHS student

"An acquaintance of mine who was a fairly new driver was driving recklessly on a country road. In the car was about 3 of her friends, and my friend and me. She was driving about 65 in a 40 mph zone, the cause of this was because a car behind her was riding her tail. Not only this but she knew the driver, who was a former boyfriend. It was at night, and was trying to get back to a 'safe' place which was populated. We later thought that maybe he was drunk while doing this. She was sober. We almost got in a bunch of accidents because of this. The moral of this is that you shouldn't get into a car with someone who you don't know there driving, because it can be very dangerous!"
- Michelle, SRVHS student

"My story isn't about me- it is about my brother. So me and my parents were at the ski resort Dodge Ridge by our cabin. My brother had baseball so he was coming up the next day with his P.E. teacher. As they were driving up they had no problems. It was arranged that they meet us up at the lodge in the morning. But after a while, they never showed up. My parents went to investigate. Little did we know that there was a bad accident on the roads. The lady that was driving the car was traveling at high speeds on unsafe road conditions. She lost control of the car and hit a tree on the passenger side. The two people on the passenger side of the car were killed. One being my brother, the other his P.E. teacher. The driver suffered injuries. The moral is to know your surroundings and and obey the speed limit- it saves lives."
- Kyle, SRVHS student

"I was in the car with a friend of mine driving down Crow Canyon Road by Carl's Jr. There was a black sedan in front of us who seemed to be swerving crazily and seemed to be inebriated. The car all of a sudden swerves across our lane, crossing 3 lanes and into the far lane. My friend had to slam on her brakes and thankfully no one was behind us or we would have been in accident. I'm thankful that my friend was paying attention."
- Jordan, SRVHS student

"One morning, on the way too school, I was backing out of my driveway. I usually look, except this time i turned around to turn on the radio. I backed out as usual, except this time there was a neighbor's car parked behind a row of bushes. As i was reversing, I bumped into their car, and cracked one of their headlights. Luckily everything was fine, but it still cost me 200 dollars and a few hours to get it fixed. If I had focused on the road instead of the radio, then everything would have been better."
- Parker, SRVHS student

"I was in the car with my brother and he was pulling out of a parking spot in Costco and he almost go hit by a truck because he didn't look in his mirrors. Later that day he was driving home and he almost got hit by a dude who didn't stop at a stop sign. It is good to pay attention and look in your mirrors other wise you could pay a price."
- Grant, SRVHS student