Driving sleepy on the freeway

[Muse]

I was past my bedtime driving home over 40 miles two days ago on the freeway and a little sleepy. I was doing about 60 MPH. I guess I saw something but didn't even realize it until I'd hit it. In the daytime I probably would have seen it and veered and not run over it. Whatever it was jumped up when I ran over it and hit the bottom side of my car (1997 Mazda 626LX, 4 cylinder) with a BIG thump! I felt a big shock. Then I was wide awake and looking at my guages, hoping the car wouldn't lose oil or overheat or have the check engine light come on. Nothing was obvious.

I don't use the car much, haven't touched it since that night. It might not be used for weeks at a time.

I have no idea what it was I hit. Don't remember anything like that happening to me before. Is there anything I should check? How susceptible is a car like mine to damage when something like this happens?

 

[bruceb]

Might have been a Racoon or a small deer. As to damage, I would put it on
a lift and have a look just to be safe. You may have knocked the front end out
of alignment. That happened on my car, when I ran over a Tire Tread that had
come off a Truck Tire.

 

[DarkThinker]

Congratulations...you hit a dude....or what used to be a dude!
Well, this is when you delete the OP and cross your fingers

 

[Gillbot]

Studies have shown that driving sleepy can be more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol.

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: DarkThinker
Congratulations...you hit a dude....or what used to be a dude!
Well, this is when you delete the OP and cross your fingers

Imagine that eh... if he did hit a person... he'd never know

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
Studies have shown that driving sleepy can be more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol.

I doubt that things would have gone differently had I been wide awake. I won't deny that driving sleepy is very dangerous. I hate doing it and knowing that I was going to be up past my at least sometimes bedtime I tried to adjust my sleeping habits. I've done worse. I wasn't fighting to keep my eyes open. I did turn on some music hoping it would help. Not long after that, thunk!!!

A racoon is possible but doubtful. I think it was some kind of debris, possibly part of a tire or something that fell off a truck. It was I880 North of Hegenberger Road by around 2-3 miles, traveling North. Now I really will be in trouble if they found a corpse, huh?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Scouzer

Originally posted by: DarkThinker
Congratulations...you hit a dude....or what used to be a dude!
Well, this is when you delete the OP and cross your fingers

Imagine that eh... if he did hit a person... he'd never know

It was not a person. I would have seen a person. I think, based on what I registered, around the size of maybe a brick, possibly a large brick.

 

[Blackjack200]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
Studies have shown that driving sleepy can be more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol.

Obviously this is a question of how much alcohol and how drowsy. A person that had one beer will generally be much safer than someone who's badly sleep deprived.

I've driven to work many times sleep deprived and it definitely didn't feel safe. I finally started drinking coffee to make sure nothing happens and that seems to do the trick.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Scouzer

Originally posted by: DarkThinker
Congratulations...you hit a dude....or what used to be a dude!
Well, this is when you delete the OP and cross your fingers

Imagine that eh... if he did hit a person... he'd never know

It was not a person. I would have seen a person. I think, based on what I registered, around the size of maybe a brick, possibly a large brick.

Was it bulk? Like the size of an alternator?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: XabanakFanatik

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Scouzer

Originally posted by: DarkThinker
Congratulations...you hit a dude....or what used to be a dude!
Well, this is when you delete the OP and cross your fingers

Imagine that eh... if he did hit a person... he'd never know

It was not a person. I would have seen a person. I think, based on what I registered, around the size of maybe a brick, possibly a large brick.

Was it bulk? Like the size of an alternator?

It was night and I had only a very vague sense of having seen something. The clunk made a far bigger impression on me. Based on my vague sense of having seen something I'd say it was about the size of a quart jar ?? ... and dark. And it seemed at least somewhat hard and dense. I was wide awake for the 15 minutes it took me to finish my trip.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Blackjack200

Originally posted by: Gillbot
Studies have shown that driving sleepy can be more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol.

Obviously this is a question of how much alcohol and how drowsy. A person that had one beer will generally be much safer than someone who's badly sleep deprived.

I've driven to work many times sleep deprived and it definitely didn't feel safe. I finally started drinking coffee to make sure nothing happens and that seems to do the trick.

It's all open to interpretation but from experience, I've seen many an accident caused by tired drivers as well as those with alcohol. Both are bad from the point that one never knows how tired or drunk they are before they start driving.

 

[rh71]

Whenever you start getting sleepy behind the wheel, you need to imagine there is an apparition sitting in the seat directly behind you. Pretty freaky at night.

 

[warmodder]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Scouzer

Originally posted by: DarkThinker
Congratulations...you hit a dude....or what used to be a dude!
Well, this is when you delete the OP and cross your fingers

Imagine that eh... if he did hit a person... he'd never know

It was not a person. I would have seen a person. I think, based on what I registered, around the size of maybe a brick, possibly a large brick.

Perhaps it was a large brick than?

There's alot of stuff in the road to hit, hopefully it didn't cause any lasting damage to your car.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: warmodder

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: Scouzer

Originally posted by: DarkThinker
Congratulations...you hit a dude....or what used to be a dude!
Well, this is when you delete the OP and cross your fingers

Imagine that eh... if he did hit a person... he'd never know

It was not a person. I would have seen a person. I think, based on what I registered, around the size of maybe a brick, possibly a large brick.

Perhaps it was a large brick than?

There's alot of stuff in the road to hit, hopefully it didn't cause any lasting damage to your car.

Yeah, it's been quite a while since I had a general inspection of the car, probably 5 years. It's a 1997 and I'm about 90 miles shy of 20,000 miles. It doesn't get a lot of use. Next time I have it inspected (maybe soon!) I'll ask the mechanic to get it on a lift and look for damage.

 

[IronWing]

If it jumped up it was probably a rabbit.