Lucky to be Alive

[Suislide]

hey guys,

well this morning i fell asleep behind the wheel and went into a guard-rail at about 80km/h.

here's what's left of my dad's car. it WAS a 2001 Honda Accord.

front right corner:


passenger side, looking back-to-front:


passenger side, looking front-to-back:


passenger side:


yes that one is blurry, my apologies. and yes, the door is missing. the guard-rail ripped it clean off of the car, and if you look to the top right of the next pic, you can see it clearly...still entangled with the guard-rail.



somehow, by the grace of whoever is up there, the only injury i sustained was mild whiplash.

and so ladies and gentleman, with this i offer you a warning. if you are driving and feel the slightest bit tired, PULL THE FUCK OVER AND HAVE A FUCKING NAP! do NOT try any of those bullshit quick fixes, like opening your window or blasting the radio. it doesn't always work. i had my radio cranked when i blacked out this time, and i know that for a fact because when the car had stopped and the dust had settled, it was all silent except for the CD player still faintly playing.

because think about it: take 10 minutes for a nap and show up 10 minutes later, or keep driving and don't show up at all. i am EXTREMELY EXTREMELY lucky to be alive, and absolutely puts into perspective how quickly it can all be ripped away from you.

thanks for your time.

[blindside.AMG]

Holy shit!! Glad to see you're ok. Where did you have to be that you needed to drive tired??

[L-Spec]

Good thing you're okay man, that sucks, hope everything works out.

[Suislide]

this is the worst part: i didn't NEED to be anywhere. i was at my friend's house watching movies, and the three of us passed out during the movie around i'd say 3am. i woke up at 6:30am after sleeping 3.5 hours on a hardwood floor, and realized i needed to work at 10am so i should probably get home so i wouldn't over-sleep or anything.

i felt fine for the entire trip, not drowsy or tired at all really. just sort of average. i wasn't even a minute away from my house when this happened. i remember waking up when the car was about a foot away from the guard-rail, and not even having time to realize what was about to happen. before i knew it, there was noise all around me, glass flying everywhere, dust, the airbags were going off, and i spun 180 degrees. when i stopped i didn't even fully realize the extent of what had happened. i got out of the car and started collecting my shit that had gone flying out the broken window and missing door (my CD book was found about 15 feet from where the car rested, and about 20 feet from the initial point of impact). then when i walked around to the passenger side of the car and realized just how close i came to death or serious injury...my knees buckled and i broke down into tears, right there in the middle of the fucking road.

to top it all off, i have a $325 careless driving ticket to deal with. i'm not griping that i don't deserve it, because i fully do. what i did WAS careless, and i'm lucky that a) i didn't kill myself, b) i didn't injure myself, c) i didn't hit another car, and d) that i was the only one in my car. i fully deserve the ticket and intend to pay it, but it's just the icing on the cake i guess.

the biggest pain now is that my family of 4 people, 3 of which are drivers and who all go seperate ways every single weekday morning and there-fore each need their own car, is now down to one vehicle between all of us. hopefully this will only be temporary however. insurance will pay for a new car for my dad, which he's almost happy about because now he gets to actually pick out a car instead of taking the hand-me-down from my mom. and this time he'll actually get something 5-speed (mom doesn't know how to drive standard). as for me, i was supposed to pick up my new '88 Mazda RX-7 yesterday, but it failed the emissions test so we have to wait to re-do it on monday. i can't imagine how angry i'd be right now if that was the car i'd wrecked after only a few hours of ownership.

80km/h or mp/h? Either way you were very lucky, and its good to see you are okay, for that kind of damage.

[clawhammer]

You're lucky to be alive. When looking at the picture, at first I though in the first picture the red stuff was blood, but now I see it's only the tow truck.

I remember last month I was driving back to Michigan from Indianapolis and I was feeling tired, but I just tried the quick fixes. I rmember driving along fine, then the next thing I remember being halfway in the other lane. That knocked all the sleepiness out of me and I was fine the rest of the way, but then I decided that if I ever feel tired again, I will take a quick nap instead of being an idiot.

[Raz_Kaz]

Damn man, glad to see you're ok from all that. Those quick fixes NEVER really do work. If you feel tired driving, pull over and run around, do some jumping-jacks, get your blood flowing and you will be fine for an hour.

[vinnym86]

its good you're allright, man.

[quteasabutton]

that looks horrible, i can't believe you walked away from it. i'm glad ur ok

[2.2 Straight six]

wow, major buggerage. glad you're ok. the sliding (pun intended) mod of AF will live to see another day.

[sv650s]

see why golf is bad for you?

anyway good to have u alive man

[Suislide]

haha actually that's not a golf bag. that's my backpack for school. it had my PS2 in it at the time of the accident, and was sitting in that seat which got crushed by the guard-rail, so now my PS2 is fucked up too. dammit!

thanks for the kind wishes and words everyone. i feel 100% normal again, even the minor whiplash i had before is gone completely. the whole thing sort of feels like a dream.

i can't believe i walked away either.

[TexasF355F1]

Damn man. Glad to hear you made it out okay. The man upstairs is watching out for you. What time did this happen?

[Suislide]

about 7am this morning.

and i still haven't slept since then. haha!

[eversio11]

Damn man, that's pretty fucked up. Glad to hear you made it out alive.