I got in a accident all by myself today.

[SSSnail]

So there I was, driving home as normal after a day at the office. On the way home, feeling groggy and a bit tired. Feeling that I'm too tired to drive, and have been swerving between lanes, I tried to pull over and take a quick rest.

Then the strangest thing happened, somewhere between me exiting and me ended up 40 feet away from the mid section of a circular off ramp, in the shrubs, I blinked a little bit too long. I don't remember anything up to that point, which couldn't have been more than 200 feet between me deciding to get off, and me ended up where I was.

My car must have popped up on the curb and went airborne for a short bit, as I was awaken by the rough landing, soften by the bushes. Luckily, I didn't go way off down the hill. It took the towing company a while to get it out, can't really see all damages. I can tell both of the tires on the driver side are torn, front bumper took a beating, the hood wasn't terribly beaten. I guess it's time for me to get another car.

This is the first time that this has happened to me, and I am now worried. Going to the doc tomorrow, hope nothing is seriously wrong with me.

 

[ed21x]

hey, glad you're safe

 

[yankeesfan]

Hopefully its not a tumor.

^ I thought of that all by myself. ^

 

[Queasy]

Consider yourself lucky man. My wife, son, and I were driving home Christmas day one year when some guy on the other side of the highway obviously fell asleep at his wheel and we watched as he went down the embankment on his right, then flew up the hill on the side of the exit ramp and launched himself into the air only to crunch nose first into the side of the hill on the other side of the exit ramp. We couldn't dial 911 fast enough.

 

[mobobuff]

Stories like this scare me, because I've come soooooo close to that myself soooo many times. I've fallen asleep for a solid 5 seconds behind the wheel doing 80 down the freeway. I snapped back awake, completely centered in the same lane and in no danger... but it was scary as hell and made me exit the freeway to find a gas station to sit and drink lots of coffee. Man.

Now whenever I get slightly tired driving, I either slap myself hard on the face every 15 seconds, or I just pull over and stop resisting.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

You guys seriously need to get the hell off the road if you're falling asleep. None of this iron man BS, it'll only get you and others hurt.

 

[ta8689]

I know a guy who has seizures... When he was in high school, he had a bad seizure driving and totally lost it. He ended up killing a kid. not cool... If anyone bring it up he looks like hes going to vomit and cry. Really sad...

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: ta8689
I know a guy who has seizures... When he was in high school, he had a bad seizure driving and totally lost it. He ended up killing a kid. not cool... If anyone bring it up he looks like hes going to vomit and cry. Really sad...

That's depressing . I hope he knows it wasn't his fault, even though that wouldn't make it all better.

 

[Goosemaster]

glad you're okay


<--recently totaled his car

 

[ta8689]

Originally posted by: mobobuff

Originally posted by: ta8689
I know a guy who has seizures... When he was in high school, he had a bad seizure driving and totally lost it. He ended up killing a kid. not cool... If anyone bring it up he looks like hes going to vomit and cry. Really sad...

That's depressing . I hope he knows it wasn't his fault, even though that wouldn't make it all better.

Well, nobody was blaming him except the kid's mother. She couldn't believe they would give him a driver's license. That was the only seizure he had since age 7 maybe, the doctors thought it was alright. I can understand why she was upset of course, but really he didn't mean it. His family had to go on suicide watch for a while because he was so depressed.

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: ta8689

Originally posted by: mobobuff

Originally posted by: ta8689
I know a guy who has seizures... When he was in high school, he had a bad seizure driving and totally lost it. He ended up killing a kid. not cool... If anyone bring it up he looks like hes going to vomit and cry. Really sad...

That's depressing . I hope he knows it wasn't his fault, even though that wouldn't make it all better.

Well, nobody was blaming him except the kid's mother. She couldn't believe they would give him a driver's license. That was the only seizure he had since age 7 maybe, the doctors thought it was alright. I can understand why she was upset of course, but really he didn't mean it. His family had to go on suicide watch for a while because he was so depressed.

Yeah, the mother's angst is completely understandable, but I can't imagine how hard that would be for him. Hopefully time will heal most of it.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

On the way home, feeling groggy and a bit tired.

Have you been getting enough sleep lately? It could be that you're simply fatigued. Interestingly, I got the most recent issue of Reader's Digest, and one of the articles is titled "How to Spot a Dangerous Driver" (discussing driving accidents due to dowsiness).

Glad to hear you're alright though, and that it's just a single car accident with no other victims. Cars are more replaceable than people.

 

[iamaelephant]

Glad you're alright. Don't know why you're going to the doc, seems fairly obvious you just fell asleep.

 

[TheDro]

I fell asleep for about a second or two while driving on a bundestrasse (2 lane country road) going toward Kitzingen in Germany... must of been going 120kmh while driving behind someone, lucky that I woke up.

 

[EGGO]

Hopefully you weren't attacked by the self-righteous asses so far. Accidents happen. Hope you're fine. I'd be cursing the heavens that it couldn't wait just a few more seconds since I was getting ready to stop driving. Good luck.

 

[foghorn67]

When driving back and forth between Arizona and California, I could not recall a distance of many miles. I would see a sign that say "Quartzsite 23 miles", then I would look for the town and exit, only to find it getting distant in the rear view mirror. Not asleep, but close enough.
It's not a long haul from Orange County to Phoenix, but it was short enough to give me a dangerous idea that it could be done on a whim.
I was rested for one trip to AZ, but a jack-knifed truck stopped me 2 hours into a trip. I left around 12AM, and was planning on seeing my parents in PHX in the morning. The whole freeway was stopped forever. When I finally got moving again, I was so tired I nodded off every 5 seconds. I pulled over in some desert town and tried to get some sleep on a side road. I looked around, and the neighborhood looked scary, so I fought my way to a rest stop around Palm Springs or 29 Palms...I forgot. It was so windy, I couldn't sleep, it rocked my little Toyota pickup like it was going to fly away. I again fought my way to a rest stop around the state border. I finally got my rest, and slept for 6 hours like a baby. It should have been a 6 hour trip max, my parents had breakfast ready...and I could only show up in the afternoon.
that sucked.
OP-Glad to hear you are okay.