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..fell asleep at the wheel today..

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Hitman

Edmonton's milkshake attracts no boys.
I was driving home at about 3am.. between 3am and 6pm the PREVIOUS day i've only had like 2 hours of sleep. Anyways I had just convince myself NOT to go out to play some pool and to go home instead because I thought to myself.. maybe after pool I might feel drowst for the drive home. So here I was confident in my smart decision to skip pool, as I'm driving home I put on System of a Down's Lost in Hollywood, a song which I slept to while in bed 2 days earlier.

Anyways all these factors contributed to me falling asleep at the wheel, something I thought I'd never do. Like i've driven under bad physical conditions before(high on weed, totally sleepy eues unable to open) and today didnt even feel that bad, I felt kind of a wake on the drive but somehow I totally lost conciousness. I drifted elft todays the middle sidewalk, and hit it pretty hard. Thank god there was a divider there, who knows what I would have hit otherwise. A buddy of mine like a month ago fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into a ditch breaking his arm.

But yeh, I'm glad to be posting this without injury. I was fuckin stupid tonight and my heart is still racing. I'm pretty freaked out by the whole ordeal.
 

aoi tsuki

Member
i feel asleep at the wheel twice during the same year (two jobs, school, sick dad). First time, i was driving home on the freeway. i could barely keep my eyes open, but figured if i could just keep them open for another ten minutes, i'd be home. i tried keeping them wide open, which seemed to work. Next thing i knew, i was about to slam into a semi that had braked ahead of me. Thank god my brakes were working and the road conditions were good.

Second time, i'm at a light only a few blocks from home. Very sleepy. Damn light won't turn green. Next thing i know, people are honking and i'm like wtf? i look around, and realize the light's green, the car ahead of me is gone, and my foot's still on the brake. Luckily.

i also fell asleep in the line at the bank once. It was a Friday afternoon, and i had just gotten off of work like two thirds of the city, and the line was moving extremely slowly. It seemed to be moving slower than usual once i was at the front. So i decided to rest my eyes for a second. Next thing i know, someone's shaking my shoulder and all eyes are on me, half awakened, still standing.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
I was at a stoplight and I closed my eyes for a few seconds. Next thing I know I rearended the guy in front of me. He was pissed, but luckily he didn't have any damage to his car. I guess I was lucky there was someone in front of me, otherwise I would've rolled out into the intersection.
 
V

Vennt

Unconfirmed Member
I used to do a lot of long distance driving & commuting, and once got so tired on the motorway that I started hallucinating, first I saw 2 guys run past my car waving torches, quite a feat at 90mph! - Then I saw a lorry crash up ahead of me, slammed on the brakes only to find it was just a fucking roadsign - I realised at this point that crushed metal and blood was in my very near future and pulled onto the verge for a "30 min" break...

I woke up 6 and a half hours later.

Never again.
 

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
I've never done many of the things mentioned here but like Vennt I use to do alot of long distance driving and just lots of driving while tired... a few times I can remember my eyes actually closing and then snapping opening quickly scared as shit thinking... holy shit I just was asleep at the wheel!!!! (The worst incident like Vennt caused me to pull over and go to sleep at a rest stop... I woke up in the morning). I use to run from Baltimore to upstate NY regularly and it's about a 5 1/2 - 6 hour drive depending on the traffic, etc. Suffice to say I no longer drive when tired.
 

Tuvoc

Member
I fell asleep on the highway for a few seconds coming back from Canada. Luckily I veered over the bumps on the side of the road that are supposed to snap you out of it and woke right up.
 
V

Vennt

Unconfirmed Member
DarienA said:
a few times I can remember my eyes actually closing and then snapping opening quickly scared as shit thinking... holy shit I just was asleep at the wheel!!!!

Haha, no shit, that feeling is one of the worst.

It's at that moment where you literally get what feels like a self-induced electrical shock and your brain goes "WTF? Oh shit, oh shiiiit I really should stop driving...." that maybe, just maybe you should listen :p
 
The luckiest I've ever been was the one time I fell asleep at the wheel. I was in the far right lane doing 70 with two cars in the lane to the left of me, one in front, one in back, maybe 15 feet apart. I fell asleep, and woke up in the far left lane. I was probably asleep 10 seconds, but in that time I somehow kept speed, shifted lanes directly between the two cars, and moved into the left lane without continuing to drift into the concrete divider or crashing into someone.

Instead of relief, I immediately felt like a complete asshole, because I easily could've killed someone out there. It'll never happen again.
 

slayn

needs to show more effort.
I knew someone once who was following his mom in his car to go somewhere, fell asleep, and hit his mom's car :eek:

No serious injury but he didn't have a very happy mother for a while.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
I fell asleep once. I was working 5am-5pm and on my way to work one time I overshot my turn (city streets) by about 5 blocks. I suddenly realized it and realized I must have drifted off or something.
 

SteveMeister

Hang out with Steve.
Closest I came to falling asleep while driving was driving home about 5AM after having worked all night.

Several years back, a friend of mine and his daughter were on a road trip vacation, an annual tradition for them. This was just after Christmas, and they were on their way back home from visiting relatives. He'd been feeling sick, so his daughter was driving. He was asleep, and she fell asleep. Went off the road & hit one of those motorist call box posts. Witnesses said the car rolled a half-dozen times. Katie (who was 17) was killed, her father Mitch survived with relatively minor injuries.
 

Leatherface

Member
I fell asleep while driving on the highway. I was doing pretty good to. Never even drifted into another lane.. It was a long straight section thank god. I think I was out for a good few minutes at least. heh.
 

Gattsu25

Banned
first time I ever drove was on a trip to DC...under some very unusual circumstances that I won't go into I had to make sure that I was the only person in the car (of 3 adults) that got behind the wheel (without taking any sleep stops) on my trip back to Florida...loaded up on coffee and Jolts and drove all the way back...a dozen or so miles away from dropping off the last person I started seeing shit and SWORE I saw some people in other cars that I knew where long dead. when I looked back at the road I was in the oncomming lane with a car heading right for me...afterward I had no problems, AND had to wake up for work in 5 hours :)
 
Semi off-topic, but I typically drive with my left elbow on the door, so it looks as if I'm about to fall asleep to people behind me. Well, yesterday some guy with a license plate "I R L33T" gave me the finger because (apparently) I wasn't speeding as fast as he was. When he was behind me, he flashed his high beams like 3 times. At that point I realized I need to invent a a clever revenge mechanism against asshole drivers.
 

stormer

Member
seems like you needed a rude awakenking.. be happy you didnt hit another car with a family in it.. and why drive when your high?
 

AB 101

Banned
100_0618.sized.jpg
 

lexy

Member
Solo said:
Uh... how about you dont drive when youre about to pass out?

I can understand how it can happen (no one actually thinks they are going to fall asleep behind the wheel) but I felt so angry at my friend when I first heard that they had gotten into a fatal accident because of it.
 

Hitman

Edmonton's milkshake attracts no boys.
I thought my friend was a big idiot for doing it too.. first of all there have been times in the past where he's driving my gf home and has asked her to keep him up. Then one night he's driving alone and crashes into a ditch.
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
There have been many times when I've simply told my girlfriend that I wasn't going to drive back to her apartment because I felt too tired. Hopping in a car with alcohol/tiredness in your system is a stupid thing to do.
 

Johnas

Member
I used to work at FedEx overnight (while working another full-time day job) and while I never did completely fall asleep at the wheel, there were a few instances where I hallucinated, and found myself braking to a complete stop with nothing or no one anywhere near me, thinking I was about to get in a wreck or something. That's a weird feeling looking up and seeing nothing around after doing that. Another time I also started up some bathwater after only getting about 4 hours of sleep, night after night after night, laid back down and fell asleep, and woke up to half the house flooded. Oops. :)

My best friend, at the time, also worked there, and he actually managed to fall asleep, flipping his truck on its side and slamming into a guardrail on a bridge. Not a scratch on him, and didn't even really damage the truck all that bad either.
 

sefskillz

shitting in the alley outside your window
Ancestor_of_Erdrick said:
there were a few instances where I hallucinated, and found myself braking to a complete stop with nothing or no one anywhere near me, thinking I was about to get in a wreck or something.
Yea, I've done this a few times driving home late at night. Kinda creepy.
 
I honestly thought this was going to be about the Barenaked Ladies song.

Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel

Driving home to be with you
The highway's dividing, the city's in view
As usual, I'm almost on time
You're the last thing that's on my mind
I wish I could tell you the way that I feel
But tonight is the night I fell asleep at the wheel

No commotion, no screaming brakes
Most of it's over before I awake
From the ceiling, my coffee cup drips
While out my window, the horizon does flips
The worst part was hitting the ground -
Not the feeling so much as the sound
Can't help but wonder if all this is real
Cause tonight is the night I fell asleep at the wheel

Rubberneck traffic and passersby
And Slow Motion Walter the fire engine guy
Stand around with their mouths open wide
I heard some idiot ask if someone's inside
With the Jaws of Life they tried and they tried
Nobody here can know how I feel
Cause tonight is the night I fell asleep at the wheel

I guess it's over now
Cause I've never seen so much
Never seen so much, never seen so much
Never seen so much, never seen so much
I guess it's over now
Cause I've never seen so much
Never seen so much, never seen so much
Never seen so much, never seen so much
So much blood

In all the confusion, there's something serene
I'm just a posthumous part of the scene
Now I'm floating above looking in
As the radio blares and wheels spin
I can see my face slump with a grin
And you...you're the last thing on my mind
You're the last thing on my mind
You're the last thing on my mind
You're the last thing on my mind
 
I've come very close to completely falling asleep at the wheel before and I actually got into an accident as a result of it. I was just mindlessly following traffic, assumed a light was green and had my rear smashed sideways. Wasn't pleasant... or cheap... Either way I'm pretty terrified of falling asleep at the wheel. The only solution I've found is to munch on something in the car. Loud music, open windows, slapping myself in the face doesn't work, but munchies seem to do the trick - so I've got bags of jelly beans, fruit chews, marshmallows and M&Ms lying around in the car.
 

Neo_ZX

Member
I've only been close to falling asleep twice. One time I kept slapping myself in the face HARD to keep awake. Another time I just opened the window at -25ish°C
 
My commute to work is long with lot's of stop-and-go traffic, a recipe for disaster if you didn't get much sleep the night before. I have sleep apnea so I'm always tired. To prevent feeling sleepy on my drive home I take a powernap in my car during my lunch hour.
A good fifteen/twenty minute nap gives me energy for the rest of the day.
 

Brian Fellows

Pete Carroll Owns Me
Totaled a car a few years ago cuz I fell asleep and his a street light. I didnt even feel sleepy until I got about two miles from work then bam it hit me like a shotgun and I was out. Woke up when I hit the curb but going 40 it was too late. I swerved but it didnt do much good. Damn near tore the passenger side wheel off. This happened like 50 yards from the parking lot where I work. That kinda sucked. Atleast I didnt hurt anyone else.
 

Hitman

Edmonton's milkshake attracts no boys.
Brian Fellows said:
Totaled a car a few years ago cuz I fell asleep and his a street light. I didnt even feel sleepy until I got about two miles from work then bam it hit me like a shotgun and I was out. Woke up when I hit the curb but going 40 it was too late. I swerved but it didnt do much good. Damn near tore the passenger side wheel off. This happened like 50 yards from the parking lot where I work. That kinda sucked. Atleast I didnt hurt anyone else.

Wow that sucks dude.
 
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