Accident When Fell Asleep
by Randall
(Maine, USA)
When I was 20 years old I was driving home from a reunion with a high school classmate. I was exhausted because this class mate turned out to have a mental illness and had kept me tense all day.
It was about 7pm at night in January during a heavy snow storm in Maine. I had been driving all day, and must have relaxed a little too much as I got within a few miles of home, because I dozed off.
Next thing I remember is waking up in the driver's seat of my old Volvo station wagon with about an inch of snow on my lap, and a broken windshield. I immediately tried to drive away, not realizing yet that I had driven off the road, down an embankment and head on into a tree.
When I came to a little more I found that my face was cut a bit and my left hip was hurting. It was then I saw that I had also taken a tree in the driver's side door. Fortunately, I was wearing seat belts, which I almost never did during those years. Otherwise my injuries would have been far worse.
I managed to climb out of the car and knock on the door of the nearest home. I must have looked awful, because the elderly couple who answered looked aghast at my face and offered to let me use the bathroom and telephone.
I called my roommate to come and get me, and he called the police. When the officer got there he called a tow truck. For some reason, while my car was being taken away I got into an argument with the cocky young cop. In retrospect, I probably had a concussion and was in shock, but no one seemed to care about that.
I called the next day to find out my car was a total loss. When I went to clean out my belongings I immediately broke into tears when I saw the car in the daylight. I am truly lucky to have walked away from that crash. I am a believer in the safety reputation Volvo has, as the engine was pushed back into the cab, but didn't really hurt me.
And, oh yeah, I wear seat belts these days.
