Scary Sunday night accident and reality check

[110 Pete]

A little reminder of how life can change in a few seconds.

Im so thankful for my life..... I had a microsleep on the way to Sydney last Sunday. I hit the concrete Centre divider at 100 kmh. I woke up and saw sparks flying up next to my window as I smashed into the divider and then felt my Defender going up on two wheels, I steered hard left to hopefully pull it back down then hard right then left again to correct it and drove straight to the emergency bay. I got out of my truck unharmed but was really shaken and in tears and had no idea what to do. My defender had a severely bent bullbar and right hand wing and two destroyed rims. i didnt care because i was still here and standing.
I was unbelievably lucky on Sunday and thank God for me still being here. I actually thought it was the end of my life tonight.

Life is precious, make the most of it and don't waste it as it can be taken from you in a second.

Cheers

Pete :)

[Disco Muppet]

:eek::eek::eek:
Bloody hell, lucky is correct!
I've had a few moments like that, thankfully never ending in anything more than a slight swerve.
A good reminder to make sure you keep an eye out for the signs and stop for a rest.
Cheers, hope the defender isn't too badly damaged.
Muppet

[Racing Sardine]

Glad to here you are ok .Scary for sure that would have been.

[SBD4]

Glad to read that you came out of it unscathed - it is a bloody frightening experience that's for sure.

I had a similar situation about 20 odd years ago. I spent two days with a customer at Coffs and finally left their site at 12 midnight for Sydney to make sure I got to a meeting at 8AM.

Finally got to the F3 and travelling at 130 clicks in the right lane when I nodded off. drifted over to the right and woke up from the jolting of the uneven surface of the median.

Reactions kicked in immediately, flung the wheel to the left which, when the tyres gripped the road, promptly headed me off towards the near side guard rail. Over reacted again which had me heading down the road backwards. It was at this point that I was properly awake and comprehending the situation.

I had a nice view of the rest of the central coast peak hour traffic, through the windscreen, that was travelling behind me. Gave the wheel a little flick to get myself right way 'round and pulled over. Then the adrenalin kicked in, ran around the car a few times, took a leak behind a bush and generally jumped around a bit in disbelief that I (and the car) got out of it unscathed.

I was very lucky to get out of it and have never put myself (and others) in that situation again.

[flagg]

holy crap mate glad you are OK!

[Homestar]

Thanks for sharing Pete, it just shows how quickly things can change. Glad you are ok. Cars can be repaired easily, people not so easy.

[Bess]

G day Pete, sorry to hear about your incident but credos for sharing. We all take to many chances with our & others lives while driving. My wife lost her father in a driving accident & she has helped me realize its about how many lives this sort of thing impacts upon. Glad to hear your ok & the Landy can be fixed. Take stock, learn from your error & get on with living a long & happy life.
Regards Chris.[bigwhistle]

[jimr1]

Glad that you come out ok. mate , It only takes a second or so , I rolled my disco , because I wasn't paying attention for just a few seconds , It's a simple as that ! Thanks for sharing your experience with us , all the very best jimr1 :)

[UncleHo]

Many years ago I had a similar incident,shortly after my mother had her 1st heart attack I would commute from my work in Sydney to Brisbane fortnightly on my BMW R60 Motorcycle,well after a long day's work jumped on the bike,all was well till just after the BP South Grafton, north of there the road is/was concrete with tar expansion strips,and the thump-thump of the strips helped me nod off,I woke suddenly as I left the bike and sailed over the barbed wire fence into a dairy farm,lucky that I was wearing the usual touring gear of leather jacket and trousers with flying boots with an Army Great Coat over the top only thing injured was my pride :p all subsequent trips I stopped for a kip. ;)

cheers

[Offender90]

Thanks for sharing Pete. We all think this is never going to happen to us. Good to be reminded that it can, and does happen. All too often it would seem.

Glad nobody was hurt.

Bojan

[110 Pete]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Really means a lot! :)

Cheers
Pete

[Toppa]

Glad to hear only your fender got jurt.

Last Wednesday i took a call from my wife who had just visited me at work with one of the kids. All i could get out of her between tears was she was ok.

Apparently she was parallel to a truck on the Monash Freeway when she glanced over and saw the load of big industrial bins start to roll off the back and into on coming traffic. If she had have been 1 second behind where she was, one of those bins would have gone straight into the windscreen.

Near misses have a way of putting life into perspective!

[lebanon]

Thanks God that the only the car was damaged.

[Randylandy]

I have been in a similar position when I was driving the big quad road trains up in the pilbura. I just could not handle night shif. Found myself driving down the right hand side of the road one dark night asleep at the wheel with 123 tone of iron ore on bord. That was enough for me and quit few days later.

[Chucaro]

I am glad that all finished well, the damage in the vehicle it is not important, your life and the life of other people that can be injured in an accident are more important.
When I drive for long hours I have plenty coffee and eat bananas every 2 hours or less. It help me to be alert for 14 hours on the road.
Back in 1973, I have a massive accident for falling sleep when driving to work. The Cortina was complete destroyed together and the toolbox in the boot was flat :eek:
I used to work in two jobs eight hours on each :(

[ATH]

I fell asleep heading out of Broome towards Derby one fine morning about 33 years ago.
Driving into the rising Sun and peering intently through the screen and next moment woke up as the Series 3 bounced around on the rough stuff the other side of the road as I went through a shallow ditch.
In those days there wasn't so much traffic on the road but I'd gone right across the front of the only other car for miles when I nodded off.:(
He slowed down and just stared probably thanking his lucky stars at a very near miss. I know I did.
Very easy to do when your dead tired after many hours behind the wheel.
AlanH.

[carjunkieanon]

:eek::eek::eek:

Micro sleeps are so frightening - and they don't only happen on long drives. I had one with the whole family in the car, wife + 4 kids....doing a 25min drive home from the city. Woke up partly over the centreline.

[Offender90]

State transport authorities have been incorporating rumble strips on major new &redeveloped interstate roads to reduce the occurrence of people driving off the road, or across lanes into oncoming traffic while micronapping.

They're those things that make a hell of a racket in the car when you drive over them.

[Roverlord off road spares]

Glad your ok, me too had a scarey incident when ! was 18, worked night shift then drove 300 kms to go fiashing after work, microed right on a bend in road just before Stradford Vic, woke up to find me doing 360 around and around on the bend and finished in a culvert, do damage to me, car or others. really put the wind up me. Never did it again.
Cheers, Mario

[mick88]

Good to hear you were not injured, cars can be fixed or replaced.
It just shows how easily life can take a sharp left turn and for some it is never the same again.

Mick.

[isuzutoo-eh]

Pete, glad to hear you are okay, and the Defender will live on.
If you need some rims to help out for a while I have some standard 110 steelies you can borrow for as long as you need, tyres on them are only just legal though. Can bring them down on Wednesday if you want-will be in Mossy.

[110 Pete]

Pete, glad to hear you are okay, and the Defender will live on.
If you need some rims to help out for a while I have some standard 110 steelies you can borrow for as long as you need, tyres on them are only just legal though. Can bring them down on Wednesday if you want-will be in Mossy.

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the offer but I cant drive it anyway as the insurance company is looking at it this week. Ive already ordered 2 new dynamic rims:) We'll have to catch up some time, maybe organise a trip around my way?

Cheers
Pete:)