When I was about 11 or so, I went sledding one winter when we had an usually good freeze.  But I didn't own a sled, so my dad had fashioned one out of a piece of scrap roofing metal. 

  Anyway, after hurtling down the hill, I realized that I was pointed straight at a rather deep ditch, and there was a fallen tree crumpled in it with rather sharp pieces of wood pointed in every direction.
And being on a rather uncontrollable piece of metal, I realized I had two options: jump off, or sit there and do nothing like an idiot.  I did the latter, and luckily stopped about six inches from the ditch.