Is there a word for a nearly fatal or potentially fatal experience?

I was almost in a car accident today, in which I could have been crushed between a truck and a cement wall.  I was pretty shaken.

I was looking  for a word to complete this sentence:
I was in a _____ situation    OR   I had a _____ experience.

Gee, Tamisaac, that’s scaray. I’m glad you escaped unscathed.

Life-threatening is all I can really think of. There’s perilous, but that can mean exposure to risk of injury, too, and isn’t strong enough.

Ilka

Thank goodness you didn’t meet your fate!

Isn’t it amazing, when you think about it, that we are hurtling (hurling?... lol) through the air at speeds that our ancestors could not imagine?  And on a regular basis, to boot!

Maybe ‘precarious’ fits the bill?  (Though possibly too non-tragic?)

‘Vulnerable’ is the word, but it doesn’t convey the sense of urgency either…

???

Thanks for your kind words.  For some reason, I’m not feeling better yet.  It seems I had to supress my fear in order to drive alertly, and that now, it’s still in my bones or something.   Every time I close my eyes, there’s a truck on my left, a concrete wall on my rght joining a low ceiling, and a car swerving in front of me…  :’(

I’ve just missed being in many accidents.  That’s why I prefer large vehicles for my commutting (a 12-passenger ‘78 Ford van, an ‘85 Crown Victoria, and now a ‘98 Ford Explorer).  I want something the little Toyotas can bounce off of.    It also has ABS (Automatic Braking System, which minimizes skidding and loss of control).  I’ve only had to use it a few times, at low speed, but any new car  I buy will have it.

Alright, enough commiserating.  Since they say that laughter is the best medicine, Dr. Stargzer is now forced to inject some levity in here:

 You were caught between a truck and a hard place.

;D

And were’re all truly glad you escaped unharmed.

Yarghh! Those things can’t get out of their own way! Even with same-day steering . . .

Have you ever considered a vehicle that is able to avoid collisions rather than merely survive those it finds itself in?

(signed)
Graduate
Labatt’s Road Scholarship
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Skid School

I drive a small roadster, and find that the handling and maneuverability, along with skills honed by autocrossing, allow me to avoid accidents, such as when SUV drivers are paying more attention to the kids in the back seat or the person on the other end of the cell phone conversation than the fact that they are either a) running a traffic light/sign, or b) drifting over into the next (occupied!) lane.  Both happen with frightening regularity.

I certainly do not intend to say that all SUV drivers drive that way, but a certain (albeit, small) percentage do.  They also do it in smaller vehicles, but they’re more deadly in the larger ones.

OK, Rant over.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled Agora topic.

[quote author=Stargzer link=board=what;num=1038891634;start=0#5 date=12/03/02 at 19:00:47]

Alright, enough commiserating.  Since they say that laughter is the best medicine, Dr. Stargzer is now forced to inject some levity in here:

 You were caught between a truck and a hard place.

Thanks!  It worked!     (Meaning, I laughed.)

Agoraphile’s same-day steering brought on laughter too.

I drive a 2002 Honda Odyssey.  I selected it because it handles like a car—first priority is to avoid accidents, thank you—and it had the best crash tests and side air bags and other top safety features.

[quote author=Agoraphile link=board=what;num=1038891634;start=0#6 date=12/03/02 at 20:24:21]

Yarghh! Those things can’t get out of their own way! Even with same-day steering . . .

Have you ever considered a vehicle that is able to avoid collisions rather than merely survive those it finds itself in?

(signed)
Graduate
Labatt’s Road Scholarship
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Skid School

One of the accidents I avoided in the van was a car stopped dead in the middle lane of the Baltimore Beltway.  The car in front of me swerved to avoid it, and I managed to do the same thing in the van.  The poor slob behind me was not so lucky, and rear-ended the stopped car.  I don’t think he left as much front clearance as I did.  

I remember when we test-drove the van the weas-, I mean, salesman, told my wife "It can turn in only a 24-foot circle."  Or was that 42 feet?  I used to get razzed by a cow-orker whenever I backed into a parking space and had to make what looked like two attempts because of the turning radius.  He could back his smaller van in in one attempt.  Then he got a new van with a different turning radius.  My turn now:  "Hey, can’t you back this into a space on the first try?"    Vengeance is good, sometimes!

The Crown Vic did yeoman work for many years.  I referred to it as my Moon Car, because it had over 225,000 miles on it, the distance to the Moon.  

The Explorer does not take off fast, but it does creep up there when you’re not looking.  I found out the hard way the definition of Reckless Driving in Virginia, based on speed alone in a 55 mph zone.  I have resolved that my next car will have a cruise control.  At least their points don’t transfer to my state.   :(

I don’t go off-road, but I do feel safer with the weight and height of a 4WD SUV.  Now if only I could afford a Lincoln Navigator or a Hummer, and the gas to go with it!   ;D

I regularly park my Peugeot 306 in a space less than a foot longer than the car itself.

My one and only land yacht was a 1968 Oldsmobile Vistacruiser wagon (with a manual transmission, just like every car I’ve owned), and it was the only car that I ever bent on a highway. No other cars were involved, and the biggest injury was to my pride. Thereafter my friends called it Rumplenose the Vistabruiser.

I once popped a tread on a Caterpillar tractor, but that, as they say, is another story.

Gary Larsen once had me ROFLMAO with a cartoon of a highway scene showing a car-like frame shaped like an elephant and a cloud of smoke rising off it. The caption read "Tantor burns up on I-90."

There’s always the slightly cliché-ed ‘near-death experience’, but that has some serious connotational baggage. From your reaction, though, it might just be the right word  :-/

May your sleep be quickly restored to normal status  :)

[quote author=Silver Han link=board=what;num=1038891634;start=0#11 date=12/10/02 at 23:08:14]There’s always the slightly cliché-ed ‘near-death experience’, but that has some serious connotational baggage. From your reaction, though, it might just be the right word  :-/

May your sleep be quickly restored to normal status  :)

Thanks..  :)  I’m fine now.  "This too shall pass" is ever true of feelings.

Does that qualify as a "near death experience?"  I thought the person’s body had to be so ill or damaged that it almost failed in order to qualify for that term.  (As opposed to the situation).

‘Near-death experience’ can have more than one level of meaning, I think. The most extreme sense would be literally, heart is stopped, tunnel-of-light ahead, then somehow the person pulls out of it. I think that the term can also be applied, though, to a situation in which an otherwise healthy person comes within spatial inches of death, a potentially lethal freak accident which was only avoided by the narrowest margin. Either one can result in altered emotional state, of course, although I think the former is supposed to be comforting, ‘Now I understand death and it’s not so bad’, sort of thing, while the latter tends to scare the bejeebies out of the fortunate survivor for a period of time. Five virtual hugs in the bank, anytime you feel like withdrawing them  :)

‘Tis always the most obvious answers that take the longest to figure out.  ;D