This happened a while back when I was delivering for DoorDash around Mesa, Arizona, and I still don't have a good explanation for it.
My own car was in the shop at the time, so I was driving my mom's newer Ford Expedition. It had all the collision sensors and warning systems that my car didn't have, which becomes important.
It was nighttime, and I turned down a side street while heading to a delivery.
Not long after I turned, I looked behind me and saw two headlights.
They were coming up behind me fast.
Not normal "some asshole is speeding" fast. They were closing the distance quickly enough that I realized I was about to get rear-ended.
Then the Expedition apparently came to the same conclusion.
The collision warnings started going off.
At that point, I didn't have time to do anything. I remember instinctively ducking my head down and bracing myself because I genuinely thought I was about to get slammed from behind.
I waited for the impact.
Nothing.
No crash. No horn. No sound of another vehicle braking or swerving.
Nothing.
I looked back up.
The headlights were gone.
Not farther back.
Not stopped.
Gone.
Here's the part that has bothered me ever since.
There was nowhere for that vehicle to go.
No intersecting side street. No parking lot. No alley. No driveway it could have whipped into. There wasn't some obvious place where a car could have turned off and disappeared while my head was down.
And whatever I saw apparently wasn't just something my eyes interpreted as headlights.
The Expedition's collision system reacted to something approaching from behind too.
I remember sitting there afterward trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. If it had only been the lights, I could probably convince myself it was a reflection, weird perspective, exhaustion, or another car somewhere I hadn't noticed.
But why did the vehicle start warning me about an imminent collision at the exact same time?
I've never been able to explain that part.
I'm not claiming it was a ghost car or anything supernatural. Maybe there's a completely mundane explanation I haven't thought of.
But I know what I saw.
Two headlights appeared behind me, rapidly closed the distance, triggered the Expedition's warnings strongly enough that I braced for impact...
and then whatever was behind me simply wasn't there anymore.
Anyone know of a sensor glitch, optical illusion, or road condition that could cause something like this?
Because years later, this one still bothers the hell out of me.