alanrim
Junior Member
See told you
Hope you recover fast, glad what could have been a bad situation turned out OK
If you were me?
- Thread starter Nelly
- Start date
See told you
Hope you recover fast, glad what could have been a bad situation turned out OK
I missed this.
I'm really glad your OK. Modern cars are good in crashes.
You idjit.
...M
RJ2112
Junior Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2009
- Messages
- 2,108
- Reaction score
- 23
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Dahlgren, VA/USA
Don't know how I missed this Nelly.... sorry to hear of your accident; glad it's just a car and some bruising!
Cheers mate,
Yep thank God I am OK. I was so pi55ed off for a few days because I had wrecked the car. I have put it all into perspective now though. I have insurance, I have a cheap hire car and I have the opportunity to grow old and fatter.
Nelly
RJ2112
Junior Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2009
- Messages
- 2,108
- Reaction score
- 23
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Dahlgren, VA/USA
(This is a long one, feel free to skip if you desire)
FWIW, many years ago, in a state I won't mention I fell asleep behind the wheel of my 1978 Toyota Corolla Lift back.
As this was a direct result of trying to consume a liter of Jim Beam with one other participant; I'm not proud. I am very happy that I didn't kill anyone, me included.
Sat in a low life dance club swilling that stuff for a number of hours, and fought off attempts by my friends to get me to ride home another way... left the bar, stopped at the drive through of a McD's to get a snack, and drove towards where I was living, about 15 miles away.
Late at night, two lanes with a grassy median and two oncoming lanes on an interstate freeway. I started to pass out, so I rolled down the window.... that wasn't working, so I cranked up the stereo.... couldn't get my eyes to focus, so I closed one...
Next thing I hear is that roaring sound as the grass and gravel are bouncing off the bottom of the car. Snapped the wheel to the left, and the car slid sideways back onto the road.... highsiding the car. Now it's on the roof, sliding accross the lanes. Until it hits the grassy median, which flipped it back onto the wheels, and it keeps sliding into the oncoming lanes.... where it hits sideways flips again..... all the way accross the oncoming lanes to the far shoulder, where it rolls back onto the wheels.
I leaned over and turned off the stereo. Motor was off.... carb'd cars don't run well upside down... The smell of the dried out mud that had all been whacked off all the nooks and crannies is hard to describe. Every piece of glass except for the rear hatch was shattered. Roof was touching the top of my head. There were holes ground through the sheetmetal on every body panel of the car.
Crickets chirping, no one else around. Do I wait for help, or do I try and make it home? Not really wanting to discuss this with the police, I twisted the key, and that Toyota started right up without missing a beat. Plunked it in gear and looked for a way off the freeway, and then for a way back to my house.
The tirp to the house took hours. Finally crawled in bed at some point..... my roomate woke me the next day to ask if he could borrow my car. I threw him the keys, and went back to sleep.
Less than a minute later, he's back in my room with eyes the size of dinner plates.... "how the h*ll did you make it home?!"
After a few hours to suck up some coffee.... I called the cops to report my accident. "Where did this happen?" "I don't know, sir." "Why don't you call back when you do know?" "Yessir", and hung up.
Took me two weeks to piece together where it had happened. Sold the car for scrap. Figured I had paid my dues by totalling that car.... I lost about what a DUI would have set me back in the process.
There's no question in my mind, that car saved my life. Why, I am still pondering.
No more 'bottle' for this kid.....
Cheers M,I missed this.
I'm really glad your OK. Modern cars are good in crashes.
You idjit.
...M
I can highly recommend an airbag as an instant alarm clock. My chest is still sore and I have got manly bruises bleeding into my neck and sternum.
I personally think the term air bag should be replaced with " TBJSS" tackled by Johno safety system".
Nelly
Jez
Junior Member
I tried that too. Didn't work for me either.
Glad you came out of it OK. I used up my 9 lives long ago.
Well, that is some story,
I appreciate that you have posted it as a reflective lesson on why DUI is not a great idea and this is an episode from a period of your youth,
If I had known you at the time I would have thought you were a complete tosser.
You are a very lucky man indeed. I commend you for realising what a stupid thing it was to do, and for having the strength character to admit your mistake, share it with others and learn from it. As an emergency nurse I have the unfortunate privilege of seeing the consequences of this type of thing on a regular basis.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Nelly
I appreciate that you have posted it as a reflective lesson on why DUI is not a great idea and this is an episode from a period of your youth,
If I had known you at the time I would have thought you were a complete tosser.
You are a very lucky man indeed. I commend you for realising what a stupid thing it was to do, and for having the strength character to admit your mistake, share it with others and learn from it. As an emergency nurse I have the unfortunate privilege of seeing the consequences of this type of thing on a regular basis.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Nelly
RJ2112
Junior Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2009
- Messages
- 2,108
- Reaction score
- 23
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Dahlgren, VA/USA
Thanks for understanding. A lot's changed in my life since that time.
I was in the military at the time..... no excuse for the wretched excess, but it was a fairly common thing, at the time. (25 years ago, now...)
My main point being that the car was one heck of a safety net. They used to show a video called 'Room enough to live'; the main point of the video being that you can look at all the crashed cars in a wrecker's yard, and the passenger compartment is going to be the most intact portion of the vehicle. If you wear your belts.... there is Room To Live.
That's one of the things I find attractive about riding. You don't have that measure of certain protection from your own actions.
<<As an emergency nurse I have the unfortunate privilege of seeing the consequences of this type of thing on a regular basis.>>
Part of my career, somewhat after the rolling the car incident, I spent in Shore Patrol. That involved dealing with other drunk sailors...... every night. For hours at a time. If there is anything that will cure a person of imbibing, try spending serious amounts of time around drunks when you are sober.
I was in the military at the time..... no excuse for the wretched excess, but it was a fairly common thing, at the time. (25 years ago, now...)
My main point being that the car was one heck of a safety net. They used to show a video called 'Room enough to live'; the main point of the video being that you can look at all the crashed cars in a wrecker's yard, and the passenger compartment is going to be the most intact portion of the vehicle. If you wear your belts.... there is Room To Live.
That's one of the things I find attractive about riding. You don't have that measure of certain protection from your own actions.
<<As an emergency nurse I have the unfortunate privilege of seeing the consequences of this type of thing on a regular basis.>>
Part of my career, somewhat after the rolling the car incident, I spent in Shore Patrol. That involved dealing with other drunk sailors...... every night. For hours at a time. If there is anything that will cure a person of imbibing, try spending serious amounts of time around drunks when you are sober.
Debaser
Junior Member
It sounds like you don't have to contend with congestion so I would take the car if you have the option. Personally I will ride all winter but I commute through very heavy traffic that does an average motorway speed of 20km/h.
rjo3491
Missing The Fiz-Sometimes
If you're having trouble seeing them, they're having trouble seeing you. Also, they are using cell phones, putting on makeup, shaving, eating, conducting business, yelling at their kids in the back seat, looking for the change that spilled out of their pockets when they sat down, ...you get the point. I love the car during the winter months, stereo, heated seats, no wind, and, it makes the bike even more fun to fire up when Spring arrives!
Make the most of your commute, use all of your machines!
Make the most of your commute, use all of your machines!
ELIZABETH
Goofball Extraordinaire
I also missed this post. I am SO glad you are OK, Nelly. (Sounds like it could have been much worse.)
Similar threads
