Car crash at 75mph: was I lucky?

visual

bear1 wrote: »

He has lost his car, his valuable belongings, has pains in his body, will definitely have a higher insurance premium and more than likely still in shock.
Yet he should also be prosecuted
He made a mistake and has paid for it in my mind, no need to add salt to the injury with a stupid post.

if he isn't fit to be driving he shouldn't be behind the wheel. Its stupid selfish acts like this that kill others on the road.

Jesus.

visual wrote: »

if he isn't fit to be driving he shouldn't be behind the wheel. Its stupid selfish acts like this that kill others on the road.

CarrickMcJoe

Jesus. wrote: »

For feck's sake, why do the HHB always swoop down on threads like this?

The bloke was taking a tablet for Hayfever FFS. If everyone who took tablets for minor ailments were to stop driving, the whole Country would grind to a halt in the morning.

He was tired and made a mistake. Get over it.

+1 and at least he's not heading up to your dad.

visual

Jesus. wrote: »

There is a reason they put tachograph in lorries and why your advised not to drive when tired but it really goes over your head that driving tired is as if not more dangerous than drunk

so lest of the sarcastic remarks

whiskeyman

You were very lucky and I hope you're recovering after a very scary experience.
Thank you for your post and id almost recommend you post into newspapers anonymously.
Accidents due to tired drivers are a huge problem, and we don't take it seriously enough IMO .
You've learned the hard way and I hope someone who has read your post realises that feeling tired or woozy could have serious consequences.

Renegade Mechanic

smemon wrote: »

i know the feeling of being super tired and facing a long, boring drive home...

apart from stopping somewhere for a few minutes to get a drink / food / stretch legs / have a short nap (which is obviously the recommended course of action), roll down the window and get some cold air hitting your face... or take a different route home on a road you're not that familiar with...

turn on the cabin lights for a while too or keep some baby wipes around to rub your face with or listen to the radio rather than an iPod / CD... basically you wanna **** up your senses and routine as that will put you on high alert / keep you awake.

if you find yourself tired regularly, buy one of those driver sleep alarm things that goes over your ear for extra peace of mind..

All good but Id have to disagree with one point: turning on interior lights greatly reduces your vision of the road at night so might not be the best course of action in most cases.

Arequipa

Hey! Yea, i made a mistake & accept responsibility for it...
I think making mistakes is part of the human condition... The key is to learn from it & not make it again....

Visual, is entitled to his opinion... 'Off with their heads & all that...'

I think the boring nature of motorway driving & warm, humid weather does contribute to people feeling drowsy/sleepy....

DubVelo

Jesus. wrote: »

For feck's sake, why do the HHB always swoop down on threads like this?

The bloke was taking a tablet for Hayfever FFS. If everyone who took tablets for minor ailments were to stop driving, the whole Country would grind to a halt in the morning.

He was tired and made a mistake. Get over it.

Tablets for hayfever are commonly known to cause drowsiness and impair coordination and reactions. A quick Google says they can be as bad as drinking and driving. The OP crashed their car on a big wide empty road FFS!

I had an ex who couldn't be trusted not to walk in front of traffic after taking them, never mind drive.

Anyway no one got hurt, lesson learned...

bear1

visual wrote: »

if he isn't fit to be driving he shouldn't be behind the wheel. Its stupid selfish acts like this that kill others on the road.

Sometimes it takes a stern lesson to learn the consequences.
The OP has been lucky in that no other cars where around him and has admitted that his lesson is learnt.
There would be no gain in prosecuting him other than to further impede his life.
I have also once fallen asleep at the wheel (no medication was involved nor alcohol), I was driving in Europe at around 2/3am and needed to arrive at whatever place by whatever o clock.
I was knackered and knew I wouldn't make it the whole way and was looking for a place to get an hours sleep.
I never made it and instead woke up with the car bouncing off the median.
I also learnt my lesson that day not to ever take such a chance again and I've stuck by it.
So no, the OP does not deserve prosecution at all.

visual

Arequipa wrote: »

Hey! Yea, i made a mistake & accept responsibility for it...
I think making mistakes is part of the human condition... The key is to learn from it & not make it again....

Visual, is entitled to his opinion... 'Off with their heads & all that...'

I think the boring nature of motorway driving & warm, humid weather does contribute to people feeling drowsy/sleepy....

its precisely because of this reply I don't think you realise that your are a danergous driver and should have been prosecuted for it.

Feeling drowsy sleeply on boring motorway are all the warning signs you needed to pull over but you knew you where tired taking a drug that makes you more susceptible to falling asleep (warning on the packet) but you selfishly put other road users at risk with a ton and half missle going 120kph while you get a few zzzs

you should read up on micro sleep
its when someone is over tired is forcing themselves to stay awake but the body shuts down anyway. What they preceive is a blink is sechonds and the longer they fight the sleep the longer these miro sleeps become until they drift of completly.

It not an accident or a mistake you fell asleep at wheel it is totally preventable. No one would accept a drunk driver calling it an accident or mistake neither should you.

What you done was dangerous driving and it is only luck that you didn't kill someone else.

Patrickheg

CiniO wrote: »

you could probably easily recovered from it if you knew how.

Wow that's condescending. Not everyone is as great a driver as you.

visual

bear1 wrote: »

Sometimes it takes a stern lesson to learn the consequences.
The OP has been lucky in that no other cars where around him and has admitted that his lesson is learnt.
There would be no gain in prosecuting him other than to further impede his life.
I have also once fallen asleep at the wheel (no medication was involved nor alcohol), I was driving in Europe at around 2/3am and needed to arrive at whatever place by whatever o clock.
I was knackered and knew I wouldn't make it the whole way and was looking for a place to get an hours sleep.
I never made it and instead woke up with the car bouncing off the median.
I also learnt my lesson that day not to ever take such a chance again and I've stuck by it.
So no, the OP does not deserve prosecution at all.

It was other road users that are lucky. Driving tired is a big killer on our roads much more dangerous than drink driving or speeding.

From all the OP posts it appears he felt he made a mistake but that isn't the case. It was and is preventable, it is a choice that was made and it is dangerous driving.

Being tired feeling drowsy feeling sleepy are all more than enough reasons to pull off the road.

Arequipa

Visual, i accept your opinion & that when you put a thread on a public forum; you have to be prepared for all types of responses..

Obviously you are a perfect human being, who has never made any mistakes & never done anything out of order your whole life...

I mention the fact that the design of motorways and warm, humid weather can contribute to drowsiness..
I was feeling a bit sleepy but opened window, played music and didnt realise how tired i actually was...
Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone....

bear1

visual wrote: »

its precisely because of this reply I don't think you realise that your are a danergous driver and should have been prosecuted for it.

Feeling drowsy sleeply on boring motorway are all the warning signs you needed to pull over but you knew you where tired taking a drug that makes you more susceptible to falling asleep (warning on the packet) but you selfishly put other road users at risk with a ton and half missle going 120kph while you get a few zzzs

you should read up on micro sleep
its when someone is over tired is forcing themselves to stay awake but the body shuts down anyway. What they preceive is a blink is sechonds and the longer they fight the sleep the longer these miro sleeps become until they drift of completly.

It not an accident or a mistake you fell asleep at wheel it is totally preventable. No one would accept a drunk driver calling it an accident or mistake neither should you.

What you done was dangerous driving and it is only luck that you didn't kill someone else.

visual wrote: »

It was other road users that are lucky. Driving tired is a big killer on our roads much more dangerous than drink driving or speeding.

From all the OP posts it appears he felt he made a mistake but that isn't the case. It was and is preventable, it is a choice that was made and it is dangerous driving.

Being tired feeling drowsy feeling sleepy are all more than enough reasons to pull off the road.

It's very easy to sit back in your chair and become a keyboard warrior, what isn't easy however is to put a thread up and admit to others that you have made a grave mistake which could have cost the OPs life and those around him.
He should play the lotto he was so lucky but I for one will not say how stupid/irresponsible he was as I'd be a hypocrite.
He made the mistake, it's over and that's it.
You are trying now to get a rise out of people by posting these kind of posts, you've said your bit and that's it.

visual

Arequipa wrote: »

Visual, i accept your opinion & that when you put a thread on a public forum; you have to be prepared for all types of responses..

Obviously you are a perfect human being, who has never made any mistakes & never done anything out of order your whole life...

I mention the fact that the design of motorways and warm, humid weather can contribute to drowsiness..
I was feeling a bit sleepy but opened window, played music and didnt realise how tired i actually was...
Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone....

Your still convince you made a mistake and was unlucky to have crashed.

This is why I strongly believe you should have been prosecuted for dangerous driving and banned from driving.

We all make mistakes and bad judgements while you where slightly injured and car damaged but you escaped prosecution and only by luck didn't kill anyone and end up on man slather charges.

Its good in one way you posted your experience as it highlights the lack of awareness on the subject.

We will have to agree to disagree as I'm only repeating myself.
There is no excuse for falling asleep at the wheel.

slimjimmc

Patrickheg wrote: »

Wow that's condescending. Not everyone is as great a driver as you.

Perhaps you didn't read all CiniO's post in it's entirety, you seem to have missed or ignored the bit where he predicated that with
" if you had advanced driver training to be able to recover from skids".

What he said was perfectly correct, if the driver was trained to know how to deal the loss of control he probably could have easily recovered. That's not condescending.

Patrickheg

slimjimmc wrote: »

Perhaps you didn't read all CiniO's post in it's entirety, you seem to have missed or ignored the bit where he predicated that with
" if you had advanced driver training to be able to recover from skids".

What he said was perfectly correct, if the driver was trained to know how to deal the loss of control he probably could have easily recovered. That's not condescending.

In my opinion the use of the word "easily" is extremely condescending.

Blue Whale

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

. Being that tired at the wheel suggests you lead a very busy lifestyle that doesnt allow for much rest but no job is worth your life. Dont dwell on it because only the negatives will stick, get another vehicle and stay going. But get more rest.

Back when I worked full time and studied at night, while commuting a far bit, I was smacking myself in the face to wake up in the mornings, completely not worth it, dangerous. Enough Sleep is ridiculously important!

ShatterProof

Patrickheg wrote: »

In my opinion the use of the word "easily" is extremely condescending.

You must be easily upset.

OP was lucky.

Other road users were extremely lucky.

Jesus.

There's a troll at play on this thread. Don't respond to him and he'll go away.

ShatterProof

Jesus. wrote: »

There's a troll at play on this thread. Don't respond to him and he'll go away.

njburke

Yes, buy a lotto ticket, actually 2.

My wife works nights one week a month, 91 hours she does in the week, with a 25km each way commute. If she is 10 minutes late I worry, I call at +15, sometimes when I call she has pulled in for a 10 minute nap.

In July, she starts a job which is 9-5, I can't tell you what that actually means.

dudara

You were driving at 120 km/hr in a modern car, probably 1,000 kg mass. That's a lot of momentum to lose quickly, so yes, you were very fortunate.

antodeco

My missus was a (sleeping) passenger in a car that was doing 160kph and the driver fell asleep and took out two poles before stopping. Scar across her neck from the seatbelt but lucky to be alive. Sounds like you had a similar escape too OP.

Jesus.

antodeco wrote: »

My missus was a (sleeping) passenger in a car that was doing 160kph and the driver fell asleep and took out two poles before stopping.

Were they killed or seriously injured?

EazyD

Happened to my father years ago around Stillorgan, luckily he walked away intact. You can be damn sure he drilled it into my head never to consider starting up the motor before getting enough sleep. It's not about being great or pants behind the wheel as Cinio suggested, it's knowing when to concede to exhaustion and take a rest.

Just count your blessings OP and learn from it.

Thud

Buy some caffeine tablets and leave them in your car (or a can of red bull but it will take longer to work), far more effective than opening a window or turning up radio

challengemaster

Opening a window and taking stimulants are no replacement for sleep. They might keep you awake, but you will still have reduced awareness and attention span.

If you feel like you need to take a stimulant to drive, you shouldn't be driving.

DellyBelly

Thud wrote: »

Buy some caffeine tablets and leave them in your car (or a can of red bull but it will take longer to work), far more effective than opening a window or turning up radio

I'll second this. I always make sure I have a couple of red bulls in the car for long journeys....if I'm feeling really really tired I might pull over and take in some fresh air but that's not always possible so the red bull is a great help

Mr_Red

Thanks for Posting OP

It Opens everyone's eyes ( No Pun intended ) to the effects of tiredness while driving.

It could have come out a lot worse not just for you but for other drivers aswell.

Thanks for highlighting this