Almost died today.
 

Woke up very early for a PCA show n shine after having very little sleep last night. Hour, maybe hour and a half. Up at 5:30. Went to the show tired. Didn't leave till 6 or so.
On the way through Tacoma, I blinked. When I woke up, I was running over debris, headed for the wall on the left. If there were no debris, I probably would have not woken up at all. I came within inches, I p00p you not. :eek: I about crapped my pants as I steered hard right. Rear wheel has some marks on it, not sure from what. Front fender had soem green crap smeared on it. Not sure what it was either.
I swear I scraped the wall. I pulled off the freeway, sure that I had left deep scars. There were none.

People, don't drive tired. Earlier traffic was backed up, slow and boring. The humdrum of it lulled me into complacency. When it picked up again, I was just sort of out of it. I had also fogotten to turn the radio up when I was in range of my station....music keeps my mind occupied. The roar of the engine.....too soothing.
I blinked. That's all I did. :(

Driving tired is no joke. Glad you regained consciousness in time.

Hey when I had my learners permit I was driving with my dad in his Tacoma and nodded off on a country road and dropped two tires in the ditch. He grabbed the wheel and yelled. I am really attentive to it now. Narcolepsy runs in my family and my moms little brother has wrecked several vehicles. :(

I know the feeling man. Its freaky.

driving home from surfing i've had a few of those moments where you take an extended blink and then you open your eyes and your not where you were when you first blinked if that makes any sense.

That's exactly how it was...

Little thing I do on long (dull) drives--get an empty paper cup and a bag of sunflower seeds in the shell. The activity of de-shelling the seeds and spitting the shell out (in the cup) will NOT let you get sleepy.

A.B.

I eat the shells:(

Ha Ha--well it is better when you "struggle" to de-shell the seeds--it can be done almost subconsciously, and thus keeps the mind form getting sleepy--and "hypnotized" by the road..

Besides--eating those shells always seem to put shell slivers in the gums.. ouch..

Glad you are Ok --pretty scary deal

A.B.

I've had to stop. However, I probably wouldn't have had a friend not taken the rear axle off of an 18 wheeler when he fell asleep at the wheel. He didn't make it out alive.

A lesson to us all. We've all been too close to this...knowing we should pull over...

(edit) An old license plate frame gag: "I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my Grandfather. Not screaming in terror like his passengers."

Driving tired is just as bad as driving drunk. I always pull over when it gets too bad and take an hour nap.

George

the shells have all the salt on them but when they come out they feel like some one wadded up some rusty 6 penny nails.

Glad you are OK.

Down under we have a government sponsored programme called - Drive, Revive , Survive.

If you drive for more than 2 hrs in a block, stop and revive - take a 10-15 min walk or have a drink/snack. If you are travelling with someone swap drivers every 2 hrs.

Rather than think if you are getting too tired, just assume you are and stop. I'd much rather be late than never.

Tim

I had that same experience while driving down the HWY out by area 51. Only it seems I lost about an hour and a half.

Very scary experience. A bunch of yrs back, at night I was driving on a highway in upstate NY. I was in my Jeep CJ5. Hadn't been driving that long. Only about 6 hours. Trying to keep my eyes open. Figured I'd stop at the next exit if there was a gas station or something.
Next thing I know I hear bang! second or two later, bang!........Bang! I opened my eyes , I was taking down those small reflectors on the right shoulder. If they weren't there, i would have drove off the shoulder and down into a ditch , and probably rolled it.
Needless to say, that woke me up.

X2 if on a motorcycle, I have a few old stories.

Not just you you could have hurt either. Most people forget this half of it. Someone else could have been the victim of your stupidity. Just saying.

Glad you're ok. I nodded once while drive in Puerto Rico after a red-eye into SJ. Scared the crap outta me too.

If I am a little tired, sometimes I will hold my breath for an extended period. The effort to do that gets the blood flowing. That will keep me going until I can find a good spot to take a break.

long ago I used to drive 70 miles to lafayette on wed and fri nights, hit the bars until about 4-5am, drive back for work at 7:30am. sleep on the straights and the side markers thumping would wake me for the curves. not fun waking up and you're doing 55 and the guy in front is doing 35. so close you knew how fast he was going by reading his speedometer

Ever fallen asleep at a stop light? I have. Been so tired I literally fell asleep at an intersection with my foot on the brake and woke up several minutes later with people just going right around me. My foot was still on the brake. People were just going right around me like I wasn't even there, not even bothering to glance over and see what the problem was. I shudder to think what would have happened if my foot had slipped off the brake pedal while I was out.

I hate to admit it, but I've had MANY incidents of being overtired while driving. It's unfortunately a fact of life in today's culture. The stupidly-designed roadway/freeway system in southern CA doesn't help. It only means you spend 2-3X the time in your car, bored out of your skull, more likely to zone out (been there, done that).