Don't touch the fire on this one.

[Febreze Mee]

*Reminder to not drive drowsy for the safety of others and yourself.*

 

On January 24, 2017 I woke up for a day that was different from the routine. Today was huge! Our annual fall Texas A&M Career Fair was happening, and we freshman Engineering students would get an opportunity to practice speaking and interacting with the 400+ companies at the convention. All those seminars and elevator-pitch drafts would finally come into play. And so it was put to us that this would be a good time for exposure and practice. We were told that it was highly unlikely for us to walk away with anything but a learning experience - and it would be safe to say that all of us did. However, a few of us managed to walk away with a little more. I landed myself one of the two A&M interview spots Toyota was offering for a possible Plant Production Manager assistant co-op for their plant up in Plano, Texas. The interview was scheduled for the next day at 8:30am on campus.

 

 

We got back from the fair and I decided to be irresponsible with my time. I stayed up all night doing a combination of things that could have been done earlier in the day. I know I was scouring this forum for everything I could find on doing a LGT suspension swap. I'm sure I was on YouTube a little. I cranked out a ton of Calculus II homework, and a ton of Physics homework throughout the early hours of the morning. And afterwards, I began preparing for a the interview I was to have in a few hours.

 

I lived 50mins off campus and it's all backroads (twisties!), so I gave myself ample time to get suited up and get there. I took a ten-minute nap from 5:35a.m. to 5:45a.m., then began getting ready. Found $10 in change to put gas in the tank to make the drive there and back, because college. Left the door at 6:10a.m. to give myself time for travel, stops, parking, and being there early. I made three stops because I was extremely drowsy, and it was hitting me like a train. I spent an additional 20+ mins looking for my phone that fell in between one of the cracks between the seat. So frustrating. I ended up getting to campus around 7:45a.m. Anyway, I made it in one piece. I drove in with a road trip buddy I had found near campus (lady-driven Maxima SE-R), found parking, and walked around for another 20+mins looking for this room in one of the many buildings. Super lost. Ended up finding it and getting there with 10mins to spare. Then I conducted my interview.

 

During the interview I was asked about a problem I might have had one time and how I handled the problem. Funny enough, the weekend before I was at home throwing LGT struts in the wagon and I snapped a rear lower strut assembly bolt and wasn't able to get one in time before I had to make a road trip back to where I was living for college. I ended up using an RX-8 transmission bolt from the project car as a temporary place holder for the week until I could get back and get a new bolt and alignment. I ended up sharing this story because it was the best I could come up with quickly, and it was applicable. I was confident going in, but not so much when exiting the interview. The fact that I as a freshman in college with no real experience, and only a semester of school to back up my degree path, had scored the interview was an accomplishment to myself. There were obviously better candidates and so I think the position went to the other guy who was a junior or senior.

 

I walked back to the "30min Parking ONLY" spot, where I had left my car 45mins prior, fingers crossed that I didn't get a ticket. Hopped in, looked back into the rear cargo space where I left a pillow and comforter for post-interview operations. There was no way I was risking the ticket though, so I convinced myself I could make it back to my residence 50mins away. Made two stops on the way back, got caught in construction traffic (on a two lane highway in the middle of nowhere). While sitting for a few seconds I blinked long and hard enough for 3 car lengths to have opened between I and the car in front of me. "Man I am tired." I did a lot to prevent myself from sleeping. I put down all of the windows to allow the 30* air to hit me in the face at 60mph, blared music, screamed the lyrics to the music.

 

5mins out from my apartment, and I fall victim to a mirco-sleep going 55mph. The car veers over 3 lanes of not-so-busy highway hits a curb at 45* angle to which my eyes shot open. Now if you ever been woken up abruptly in the middle of sleep, your eyes open all the way, but your sight isn't all there yet. That is exactly what this was like. My first thought was that I just bottomed out. I had a roller coaster feeling in my stomach and just heard a bunch of brush cracking. I had hit a curb, went airborne, through some thick small trees, hit the ground on the front right corner of the car and initiated a roll, where I then rolled over one and a half times into a tree. It all happened extremely fast. And the actions and thoughts that I am about to describe took place over about 45secs. When the car settled I felt jarred - how appropriate. I hung sideways from my drivers seat. My left leg hurt. My vision came to and I saw a deflated airbag, lots of smoke, and a very translucent, shattered windshield. I looked to my right and just couldn't believe what I saw. I saw the ground! How? What just occurred? Blood dripped from my behind my ear on several copies of my resume that lay below me. I looked to my left and say my headliner and a bunch of metal. "My window used to be there." I quickly let myself down and looked to the rear cargo space. Folded! I could barely see light. "I need to get out of here." "The car might be on fire." "Another car might come and hit me." "Oh. Oh, did I hit another car?" "Wow." I looked around evaluated my options, what little I had. I decided the windshield was the only way. I proceed to give it a couple kicks, and a small hole was made on the third. I boogied out and ran around the tree my roof was lodged into and out into the clearing. There I saw three vehicles had pulled over and a several ppl had come to check on me. Can't thank them enough. They were all wide-eyed and almost speechless. "How is this kid walking away from this?" was a thought they all shared. I turned around to my car revealing that it was a single-car accident, THANK GOD! My mind flooded with thoughts "No! I'm going to miss my Calc quiz!" (The teacher said at the beginning of the year no matter what, there would be no make-up quizzes. Of course my thoughts when he said that were "What if some thing out of the ordinary happens? Surely you can make it up." When later sharing my experiences with him, he still wouldn't let me make up the quiz.). "My car is sideways." "New tires, new suspension, gone." "My ear hurts." "Do I still have an ear?" "I hope my parents are too mad at me." "I really don't want to share this with them." "I already feel like a burden and I haven't even told them yet." I was a little in shock, so I was processing way too much. This didn't even don on me until a couple days later that it all happened. I don't know why. I'm no medical expert. The sheriff came and mentioned I was remarkably calm, asked if I wanted an ambulance, I politely declined. He was taken back at my physical and mental state given the nature of my accident and the carnage. The tow truck driver came and was in disbelief. He wanted a picture with me since I was only one of two or three victims to such a severe accident who he had seen survive, let alone walk around as I was. He got choked up several times as we shared good conversation. I made the call to my parents 30mins after all this happened. The tow truck driver took me and the car back into town and dropped it off at the Ford dealership wreckage yard, and me off at my apartment. My dumb self, exhausted, stripped off my shredded suit and laid filthy in my bare bed with a small sheet and pillow. I took a 2hr nap before I woke up. Good thing I didn't have a concussion. Both my parents made the trip up to me and took me back home for the next day.

 

On January 25, 2017 I and those around me learned a very important lesson to not drive while drowsy. It is extremely dangerous. Everyone says, "Oh, it can't happen to me, and then it does." Lay your pride down! I said the same thing. "I'd never fall asleep. The fear of dying would keep me alive." We get too comfortable and complacent. It's not worth it. Pull over. Have a passenger keep you company. Just don't hop behind the wheel of a two-ton vehicle and think your resistant to sleep. Sleep always wins.

 

My best friend just had an extremely similar case happen to him. He fell asleep on a desolate stretch of highway and ended up rolling his SWP STi Type RA. He and his passenger were unscathed, thank God. Don't let it happen to you.

 

Please share this story with your loved ones. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

Have a great day! And a Merry Christmas!!!

Edited April 16, 2020 by Febreze Mee
Typos and Grammatical Errors

[Febreze Mee]

The two photos at the gas station were the only photos I had of it lowered on the LGT struts. I took them with a potato of a phone.

[Enlight]

Glad you walked away unscathed. The tow truck driver sounded like a nice guy.

[Febreze Mee]

Glad you walked away unscathed. The tow truck driver sounded like a nice guy.

 

Thank you for the kind words. Yeah, he was a super genuine guy. The nicest.

[Nonamedude]

Wow that's insane. I was an adjuster for about a year and a half and never saw a vehicle that damaged and the one fatality I saw wasn't even close to that. If I'd seen that car I would be certain you were dead.

 

Glad you made it out ok and glad you have a new outback to play around with also!

[Febreze Mee]

Wow that's insane. I was an adjuster for about a year and a half and never saw a vehicle that damaged and the one fatality I saw wasn't even close to that. If I'd seen that car I would be certain you were dead.

 

Glad you made it out ok and glad you have a new outback to play around with also!

 

No kidding. Thank you! That makes two of us.

[boxkita]

damn! you were lucky

[Febreze Mee]

damn! you were lucky

 

Not lucky - blessed. I've gotta call it "divine intervention" on this one. Nonamedude just claimed of all the cars he saw in a year and a half, non were as bad. And the one fatality he did have wasn't close to touching this one. I walked out without so much as a concussion. Definitely a miracle

[NORULZleggy]

Bet it will still start and drive. that AWD is strongggg. These car are know for being safe.

[Febreze Mee]

Bet it will still start and drive. that AWD is strongggg. These car are know for being safe.

 

Bwahaha. One of the safest with consistent 5-star safety ratings from the NHSTA.

[niembrigh]

That's very unfortunate. Hope your insurance took care of this incident. Glad you're safe too.

[Febreze Mee]

That's very unfortunate. Hope your insurance took care of this incident. Glad you're safe too.

 

Thanks a ton! As unfortunate as it was, I'm fortunate enough to move on to bigger and better things. Insurance covered more than we bought the car for, which was also a blessing.