Hyundai Coupe 90mph->0...

[SimonsMerc]

Good timing on the forum creation.

So yesterday I woke up at the wheel of my Hyundai Coupe, doing 90mph in the fast lane of the M3. It had been a long night - asleep at 2:30am, up at 6am - and the twins had been restless, not really letting me get much sleep. To top it all, I'd forgotten to drink my morning coffee. No wonder I fell asleep.

I was about 5 cm from a car in the middle lane, so I instinctively braked and turned to the right, away from him - and started to skid towards the barrier in the middle of the road. I turned right, into the skid, towards the barrier, and turned left the moment I felt the car coming under control again. Except that as I turned left, the car started to skid to the left and I found myself turning ninety degrees to the left, straddling the middle lane. I was still moving forward on the motorway (which was sideways to me!), and to my left (so behind me on the middle lane) I could see a huge articulated lorry heading right at me. Fun!

To try and regain control of the car, I let go of the brake slightly and turned left into the direction I was skidding, and the moment I felt traction return to the wheels I started to turn right again and hammered the brake. The car had turned another perhaps thirty degrees to the left (into the path of the lorry) when I had loosened the brake and turned, and then I managed to get about ninety degrees to the right and onto the slow lane of the motorway (luckily empty). I braked hard and ended up on the hard shoulder, stopping finally by going very slowly into the grass verge at the side of the motorway.

Net result - by some miracle, I managed not to plough into any cars or get hit by the lorry, not flip over and end up alive at the side of the road. The car has a lot of mud on the bottom of the front spoiler, but it doesn't seem cracked or even badly scratched, so I think it more or less survived. As I came out of the car (rather shaken up), I was somewhat bemused to see smoke coming off the tyres.

All in all, I just really wanted to say "Happy Saturday" - at the moment, I'm just happy to be alive, and am celebrating every possible occasion!

Wonder how the merc would have performed in the same situation?

-simon

 

[fuzzer]

holy moley ... glad your alright dude

 

[Brian WH]

Very narrow escape mate. Has this thing not got any ESP/ABS, because that would have helped a lot.

Moral is - Don't Drive When Tired. Regardless of what car you have.

 

[SimonsMerc]

Very narrow escape mate. Has this thing not got any ESP/ABS, because that would have helped a lot.

Actually yes, it has ABS, not sure about ESP but I don't think so (it's an R reg - hell at that age and for two grand I'm lucky to have ABS ;-). I felt the ABS kick in - but there's only so much ABS can actually do for you. It can't actually stop you faster - all it can do is give you the same level of control as an experienced racing driver would have. Without the ABS I doubt I'd have survived at all. The roads were slippery, and I should not have been driving at that speed - period.

I drive at high speed a lot. I've always maintained that it isn't speed that kills. It's inappropriate speed. I was very clearly driving at an inappropriate speed at the time.

Moral is - Don't Drive When Tired. Regardless of what car you have.

Agreed. Absolutely.

-simon

 

[PJH]

Everybody take care please........

 

[lotusmark2]

Very glad this had a happy ending!
PJH 100% Have a happy and SAFE Crimbo

 

[marcos]

Sounds fun

Glad your ok though

 

[fuzzer]

Does the car have premium brand tyres?

I always maintain that spend as much as you possibly can on the tyres and its not money wasted ..

 

[pammy]

There but for the grace of God Most of us have driven when we shouldn't just not realising it until it's often too late.

Glad you escaped unscathed - albeit a tad shaken up.

I had a very heavy night on Thursday and had to stop a couple of times on the way home from Lytham yesterday. I too was too tired so I stopped and power-napped. Got me home safe even if it was longer! I've never driven Edna so slowly and steadily

 

[GrahamC230K]

Glad you are OK. It does make you think though. Driving while tired is definately a killer, but to contrast attitudes a tale of drink driving would never be tolerated - you wouldn't even have posted it. Food for thought.

 

[SimonsMerc]

Does the car have premium brand tyres?

I always maintain that spend as much as you possibly can on the tyres and its not money wasted ..

Michelin Pilot Sports. Agree that it's worth getting decent tyres. Didn't stop them smokin'!

-simon

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Tiredness definitely can kill, glad you're okay! It's scary when you hear this type of account. I'm convinced that some roads are worse than others for creating monotonous journeys, stretches of the M40 for example.

We all need to be alert to this as tiredness creeps up on you & then swamps you. How many of you become tired whilst driving and thought; I've only got a few miles left till I get home so I'll press on instead...

Honestly!

 

[Ian B Walker]

learnt my lesson many years ago in a Bedford Beagle van. Out doing a disco, late at night, driving back down the old A303 (yes folks, I lived darn sarff) fell asleep just before a roundabout and rolled into a ditch. Never ever again, scared the hell out of me.

 

[Kinky]

Simon,

Glad you're ok and that there was no serious damage.

It does question though what the driver in lane 2 was doing, with a car 5cm away from them?

If it was me - I'd have accellerated forward or moved to lane 1/3 - basically anything to get away from the danger. Had they been awake/aware/done that - I suspect your experience may not have been as dramatic, and a hell of a lot safer.

K

 

[glojo]

It does question though what the driver in lane 2 was doing, with a car 5cm away from them?

If it was me - I'd have accellerated forward or moved to lane 1/3 - basically anything to get away from the danger. Had they been awake/aware/done that - I suspect your experience may not have been as dramatic, and a hell of a lot safer.

K

You ruined it for me. I was trying to figure out whose fault it was.

We all make mistakes and those of us that are lucky... Learn by them. Forget make of tyres, ABS, ESP etc etc. Yesterday I was telling Zooman howI managed to fall asleep riding a motorcycle in excess of loads of miles per hour After that I learnt to sleep with one eye open

Take care,
John the cheeky.

 

[Kinky]

You ruined it for me

Sorry Cheeky ...... how about I delete my post - then you can post it - then I can reply along the lines of "Seconded"

K

 

[glojo]

Sorry Cheeky ...... how about I delete my post - then you can post it - then I can reply along the lines of "Seconded"

K

Do I post your post?? Or do I post my post saying you ruined it?????... Before you post your post???

Happy Christmas,
John

 

[Kinky]

If you post replying to my post before I've posted then I think you might confuse people who think I've posted and in turn you've posted to my posting, which is really my posting replying to your posting.

So far the sake of everyones sanity how about we just leave it.

I think

K

 

[wallingd]

Lmao !

 

[SilverSaloon]

wow, glad your ok.

i fell asleep once too during the fuel crises driving 300 miles at 53mph!

woke up and a lorry behind was hooting and flashing me to wake up as i was all over the road!

but at 90mph! - u are luckly to still be writing about it.

drive carefully folks and remember, driving tired is probably more dangerous than driving under the influence..... i personally feel that driving with flu/generally unwell/cold etc is also as dangerous.