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Recently, i had what I consider a 'near-death experience'.

I live in Adelaide, South Australia. There is a particular main road, coming out of the Adelaide hills, which is on a fairly steep, straight incline, for about 5-10km. This causes grief for the many semi-trailers and other trucks, and there is many accidents there, as the truck's brakes IIRC, simply melt from the intense heat build up of constant braking, causing many trucks to hurtle down the highway.

As you may imagine, this causes havoc once they reach the bottom, where there is a set of traffic lights, always with a lot of traffic.

Then picture little 'ol me, a 17 year old P Plate driver, crossing the intersection, as a truck hurtles through, an clips the back of my car, causing me to spin out in the middle of the intersection.
Thankfully, i came out un-scathed.
but, if i was a second slower crossing the intersection, i would have been completely t-boned by an 18 wheeler. I think this can be classified as a 'near-death experience'.

Obviously, this has brought me down to earth that im not invincible.

Has anyone else had a near death experience? Has this experience also given you a new outlook on life?

At the age of 17, I got assaulted by two guys when I was taking a friend of mine home at night. The second guy ran when I managed to get a larynx hit on his companion and he fell unconscious, but I got three broken ribs and was stabbed two times by the second guy's knife. Lost almost three liters of blood. It's really, really gakky. It's less about the immense pain, it's about you getting cold, your limbs getting numb and you well-knowing that you may not, at all cost, close your eyes or you will die. When you feel your heart quickly getting faster and faster to keep up while you just lie there, waiting for either the ambulance to arrive or to die.

It was...shocking. You cannot describe this to anyone who hasn't gone through this before. During the fight, I was just raging and full of adrenaline, especially after that one guy with a bat hit my friend and knocked her unconscious, merely actually feeling the pain, but when the adrenaline starts to fade, gak goes down and you try to keep your adrenaline pumping and not fething become unconscious.

The experience definitely changed me. I have become more introvert since this time and am quite a bit paranoid, always frequently checking my back now, making sure I am close to walls at night etc., usually carrying my dagger or, at the very least, some sort of knife around. I will never want to go through this again. On the upside...I've been through hell and am less afraid of death now compared to before the incident.

The other thing is that some kind of "switch" really changed back then when I took the other guy out. I found out that I crushed his larynx with my hit and he died before the ambulance arrived. It's a really weird feeling. It's not like the "OMG I KILLED A GUY" thing you often read, it's just...strange. Sorry, can't describe it :/

Fun fact: the guy who ran later got me sued and in front of a court. Needless to say I was spoken free of all charges. Just wow.

He then got sentenced to 7 years of prison.

I almost drowned when I was 12. I'd just taken up sailing, and was out for one of the first times alone when a huge thunderstorm blew up. I capsized and got separated from the boat. I started going under due to the waves, and the rescue boat was about 1/2 a mile away, picking up someone else. Fortunately a rope from the boat caught my ankle and I was able to use it to pull myself back to the boat. If that rope hadn't been there I'd have been screwed, as trying to locate a 12 year old child floating in the middle of a sea loch in a thunderstorm would have been impossible.

@Sigvatr, serious respect, did you take personal defence classes, or did you just get a lucky hit?

@Castiel, i hate swimming in open water, let alone in a storm, that would be scarring for me.

Having been in Iraq twice, I definitely have had some near death experiences, and they definitely do change you.

All of mine involve being on the wrong end of high explosives, or RPGs, etc. The strangest being the first night that the platoon I was attached to got ambushed. I was driving, and a couple RPGs were fired at my truck, which led to further MG fire. Thankfully no one of our guys were hurt, and we continued mission. The strange thing was, when we got back we were able to watch a video feed from UAVs of the ambush that we had just come through.

 Norn King wrote:
@Sigvatr, serious respect, did you take personal defence classes, or did you just get a lucky hit?

Trained since the age of 14, but it still is completely different than facing such a situation in reality...still happy I was taught to defend myself. A hit to the lynx is a very fast way to knock your opponent out, but it's not easy to hit.

However, if you're in such a situation, I can only recommend everyone to run as fast as you can. Even with training, you're lucky to get out of such a situation. Running away sounds cowardish, but you are fethed vs. knifes etc. and are much better off running and simultaneously calling the police and loudly screaming for help. That alone will send a lot of buggers off. Avoid fights whenever you can and, whatever you do, as soon as someone pulls a weapon, get the feth out and run as fast as you can. DON'T play the hero.

Good to hear you got out of your situation as well - did your driving change a lot? Are you constantly reminded of the near-accident you were in?

I drive alot, so I have had many driving related near-death experiences. However, nothing where I have been injured, more like "a split-second either way and I would be dead" kinda thing.

If I had been severely hurt, they would impact me more than just the rational thought about almost dying. Since the experiences weren't visceral enough, they haven't changed me.

I nearly drowned whist still a toddler, don't remember much about it but iv'e been told numerous times about it.

My mum was 8 1/2 months pregnant with my little brother and my dad was in a wheelchair after a near death experience of his own (he broke both legs in 3 places after getting sideswiped off his Triumph Bonneville).

We went to a local park where I, as a curious 3 year old, was feeding the ducks. I was throwing the bread into the lake with what can only be called great gusto. So much in fact that I forgot to let go of the bread and went flying in with it.

My parents, both incapable of helping were screaming for help, and a kindly old man fished me out of the edge of the lake with his walking stick. I can remember going under, it was fething cold, and the next thing I remember is being yanked out of the lake by some old guy. Awesome.

It's no real surprise that, along with Chickens, I have a deep seated fear of the Sea and large lakes. Swimming pools I can Handle, but large bodies of water? *shudders* In fact, my biggest fear is being trapped on a boat in the middle of the North Atlantic with nothing but chickens for company..... Pi can stick his Bengal up his A**. Chickens are the devils work.....

I almost drowned when I was a wee nipper, still freaking love water, being in and under water though..

Had a couple fun incidents in cars, coming home from the Marine Corps, I spun out on sand on an on ramp near Phoenix. Did four or five complete turns before ending up on the side of the road, still not quite sure how the hell it happened because it sure as feth wasn't ice. Also got T-boned making an unprotected left while I was back in HS. If my reflexes were a little slower in how I moved the car as I realized I was about to get hit, the impact would have been on the driver's side door and I'd have a good chance of losing a leg.

Finally the only time I've been intentionally shot at, out coyote hunting in the Sonoran desert. Found the wrong kind of coyote by accident, and boy were they not happy to see a gringo with a rifle.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Norn King wrote:
@Sigvatr, serious respect, did you take personal defence classes, or did you just get a lucky hit?

Trained since the age of 14, but it still is completely different than facing such a situation in reality...still happy I was taught to defend myself. A hit to the lynx is a very fast way to knock your opponent out, but it's not easy to hit.

However, if you're in such a situation, I can only recommend everyone to run as fast as you can. Even with training, you're lucky to get out of such a situation. Running away sounds cowardish, but you are fethed vs. knifes etc. and are much better off running and simultaneously calling the police and loudly screaming for help. That alone will send a lot of buggers off. Avoid fights whenever you can and, whatever you do, as soon as someone pulls a weapon, get the feth out and run as fast as you can. DON'T play the hero.

Good to hear you got out of your situation as well - did your driving change a lot? Are you constantly reminded of the near-accident you were in?

I'm defiantly more cautious going through intersections now, its just so easy for someone to run a red light.

I don't know if this counts, but I almost stayed in a coma once. When I was 8, I tried a newly released medication which knocked me out for two days. Heart rate dropped down to 25 bpm and I didn't wake up for two days.

On a holiday in Wales, I was playing in the sea. The waves were pretty big and I was holding onto a plastic football. I was only 9 and didn't know anything about undertow. I was basically being dragged further and further out and didn't realise it.

Anyway a particularly big wave came along and I lost the ball. There wasn't anything I could do against the power of the waves and I was soon going under. Fortunately a couple of guys were nearby. One grabbed me and hauled me out.

I've had the utmost respect for the ocean ever since.

So, one time, I was repairing a tube tv in college.

There was this high pitched whine that I believed was occurring due to a high voltage arc somewhere. I had it on while I was trying to troubeshoot (because that was the only time I could hear the whine) and stupidly put both my hands on components at once. About a minute later, I realized what had happened when I was propped up against the dresser on the opposite side of my dorm room with my roommate and a friend standing over me, trying to figure out if I was still alive. I never went to the hospital for that, but for the boys and girls out there who might be unaware, completing a circuit with both hands is a Bad Idea. I had numb tingling in both arms all the way up to my elbows for a good several hours afterwards, and I still remember the feeling of it all too well.

I tossed the tv out after that. It bit me once and that's all it gets.

I almost snapped my neck putting on a shirt when I was four or five.

I once crashed my chevy blazer in one of our wonderfull Minnesota winters.

I was going 60mph with 20 feet of visability.

I tried passing a semi that was kicking up loads of snow and making it harder to see. We both went through a masive snow drift that was covering the road. He plowed through it and kicked up so much snow that I couldn't see the bug screen at the end of the hood of my vehicle and spun out.

After a few seconds I came to a stop with the passenger side of the vehicle on the ground.

Called my dad, booted up my laptop, turned the radio to npr and played dawn of war until a state trooper came and gave me a ride to the nearest town.

When I was a kid (pretty small, maybe 6 or 7?) I was walking with my brother, and we were exploring near a frozen lake. It was wet, and muddy. Somehow I slipped and went into the lake, through the ice. My brother pulled me out, but I think I would have surely drowned if he had not been there - I could not get a grip on anything and just kept slipping under.

This reminds me. I should call my brother. I haven't talked to him in sort of a long time.

 Coolyo294 wrote:
I almost snapped my neck putting on a shirt when I was four or five.

At some point, you should upload a Youtube video showing your technique. Something about your comment implies a novel method of doing so that we could all learn from.

daedalus wrote:So, one time, I was repairing a tube tv in college.

There was this high pitched whine that I believed was occurring due to a high voltage arc somewhere. I had it on while I was trying to troubeshoot (because that was the only time I could hear the whine) and stupidly put both my hands on components at once. About a minute later, I realized what had happened when I was propped up against the dresser on the opposite side of my dorm room with my roommate and a friend standing over me, trying to figure out if I was still alive. I never went to the hospital for that, but for the boys and girls out there who might be unaware, completing a circuit with both hands is a Bad Idea. I had numb tingling in both arms all the way up to my elbows for a good several hours afterwards, and I still remember the feeling of it all too well.

I tossed the tv out after that. It bit me once and that's all it gets.

Lucky it didn't stop your heart!

Ma55ter_fett wrote:I once crashed my chevy blazer in one of our wonderfull Minnesota winters.

I was going 60mph with 20 feet of visability.

I tried passing a semi that was kicking up loads of snow and making it harder to see. We both went through a masive snow drift that was covering the road. He plowed through it and kicked up so much snow that I couldn't see the bug screen at the end of the hood of my vehicle and spun out.

After a few seconds I came to a stop with the passenger side of the vehicle on the ground.

Called my dad, booted up my laptop, turned the radio to npr and played dawn of war until a state trooper came and gave me a ride to the nearest town.

No offence, but you kind of had that coming given the conditions. Glad you weren't hurt!

 daedalus wrote:
So, one time, I was repairing a tube tv in college.

There was this high pitched whine that I believed was occurring due to a high voltage arc somewhere. I had it on while I was trying to troubeshoot (because that was the only time I could hear the whine) and stupidly put both my hands on components at once. About a minute later, I realized what had happened when I was propped up against the dresser on the opposite side of my dorm room with my roommate and a friend standing over me, trying to figure out if I was still alive. I never went to the hospital for that, but for the boys and girls out there who might be unaware, completing a circuit with both hands is a Bad Idea. I had numb tingling in both arms all the way up to my elbows for a good several hours afterwards, and I still remember the feeling of it all too well.

I tossed the tv out after that. It bit me once and that's all it gets.

if you went to college in the US, it was only 110 power... As an electronics maintenance dude, I've had a fair few shocks, and from different voltage. 110 typically will give me a jolt, while 220 wants to hold your hand before tossin' ya aside, while 490 positively sucks you in.



Ohh, and "grounding straps" are utter crap I tell ya.

Going to the bathroom may very well have saved my life once. I was walking towards chow in Mosul, Iraq in 2004 when I got one of the sudden urges to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW. I popped into the nearest porta-john right outside the chow hall.

About 5 minutes later, as I stepped out of the toilet, there was an immense explosion set off by a suicide bomber in the chow hall. My squad leader received life threatening injuries ( he survived but his career was over), while several others in my platoon were injured. Our battalion overall suffered 25 injuries and two killed. Overall there were 22 dead and over 70 injured.

I had been walking with my squad leader as we neared the chow hall and there is every reason to believe I would have been next to him when the bomb went off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Forward_Operating_Base_Marez_bombing

 Castiel wrote:

Ma55ter_fett wrote:I once crashed my chevy blazer in one of our wonderfull Minnesota winters.

I was going 60mph with 20 feet of visability.

I tried passing a semi that was kicking up loads of snow and making it harder to see. We both went through a masive snow drift that was covering the road. He plowed through it and kicked up so much snow that I couldn't see the bug screen at the end of the hood of my vehicle and spun out.

After a few seconds I came to a stop with the passenger side of the vehicle on the ground.

Called my dad, booted up my laptop, turned the radio to npr and played dawn of war until a state trooper came and gave me a ride to the nearest town.

No offence, but you kind of had that coming given the conditions. Glad you weren't hurt!

Yea, we kids are kinda stupid sometimes.

 Ouze wrote:

 Coolyo294 wrote:
I almost snapped my neck putting on a shirt when I was four or five.

At some point, you should upload a Youtube video showing your technique. Something about your comment implies a novel method of doing so that we could all learn from.

Step 1: Find a button up shirt with a tiny head opening
Step 2: Fasten all the buttons
Step 3: Attempt to pull on shirt without unbuttoning anything, ignoring the fact that your head is clearly not going to fit through that tiny opening
Step 4: Repeat step 3 until your neck is broken/sprained

And I regret nothing

I remember this, I was walking down almost jaywalked into a street.
I thought i heard someone call my name, Looked behind, Right then a bus went by, it would have hit me if i didnt stop.

 Norn King wrote:
Recently, i had what I consider a 'near-death experience'.

I live in Adelaide, South Australia.

Yep, that's a near death experience right there.





For all the non-Australians out there, there's a running joke in Australia that all the serial killings live and 'work' in Adelaide. John Bunting, Ivan Milat... Anyhow just watch Snowtown. Or don't, because it's fething depressing.

Got T-Boned on my motorcycle going about 50mph. Some how my leg took the majority of the impact, but it was hard enough to crack the carbon fiber on my exhaust. I dont remember how, but I ended up on the side of the road with my bike on the kickstand without dropping it from the impact. From my knee to my ankle my skin was purple and my boot was pretty gashed.

My favorite though was getting guillotined by a small but powerful wave. It happens when the lower half of your body is held in place but the wave forces the upper half down into the water. I was in waist high water so my head was slammed into the sand pretty good. Blacked out, but was pulled out of the water by a lifeguard thankfully. Im not sure if I was throwing up afterwards from the salt water or the potato chip after taste from the make out session with the lifeguard.

 sebster wrote:

 Norn King wrote:
Recently, i had what I consider a 'near-death experience'.

I live in Adelaide, South Australia.

Yep, that's a near death experience right there.





For all the non-Australians out there, there's a running joke in Australia that all the serial killings live and 'work' in Adelaide. John Bunting, Ivan Milat... Anyhow just watch Snowtown. Or don't, because it's fething depressing.

I wasn't aware of this stereo-type, but what a boss one to have, its better then the usual:"Adelaide boring and slow". Yeah well, come here in March then, we have the Clipsal 500, and a feth tonne of festivals, all jammed into the same month, its freakin hell.

 Norn King wrote:
I wasn't aware of this stereo-type, but what a boss one to have, its better then the usual:"Adelaide boring and slow".

Really? Coz it gets around a lot, probably because of all those poor people you Adelaidians have slaughtered over the years.

And yeah, it's way more fun than the Adelaide is boring one. Although I did convince an American once that Adelaide was a joke and there was really a city smack bang in the middle of nowhere, and that google maps was completely awesome in on it for being in on the joke. Worked for about half a day before someone ruined it.

I thought Alice Springs was the "city" in the middle of no where... I'm kinda glad I turned down the job I was offered there...

Nearly crashed a plane with my shiny new license. I needed to get a couple landings in to meet the minimum frequency requirement for the company I was renting from, and decided that despite the weather report of a gusty direct 90* crosswind the calm conditions where I was standing were the real situation. Once I got above roof level and above all the stuff blocking the wind the mistake became pretty obvious and I decided it was time to go back home. I fought the wind the whole way back, and right as I touched down I caught a nasty gust and suddenly found myself with the wings tipped at a 15* angle, one wheel kind of on the ground, and the plane quickly drifting off the runway. Thank dog I had fast enough reaction time to add full power and get off the ground again before I broke anything, and somehow managed to get back up to proper flying speed without falling right back onto the ground and breaking something. As I was flying away I got to experience the wonderful feeling of being in way over my head, in a situation that really could kill me. Thankfully though the next attempt was ugly but ended up with the airplane safely on the ground in one piece.

Lesson learned: I am not smarter than the weather, and I should not pretend otherwise.

That's aviation in a nutshell. If you're in the air or any where near the aircraft you've drastically increased your chances of dying violently. Losing both engines over the Sonoran desert was a freaking TERRIFYING experience. Even if it was completely intentional, King Air 250s glide like they don't need engines at all, and the pilots at the controls had so many flight hours between them that upgrading their log books for flight hours required calculus.

It's one thing where I envy cargo... err passengers when I'm on a flight. They have no idea whatsoever that as safe as air travel really is in the modern era, that that can and will change in less time then you can blink, on a literal wild hair of a chance.

Blegh, I hate being cargo, I need to talk to the FAA about getting my status cleared.

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
I thought Alice Springs was the "city" in the middle of no where... I'm kinda glad I turned down the job I was offered there...

Yeah, Alice Springs would not be a great place to work.