Sleep Attack: A Cautionary Tale
Looking back, I say to myself: Complacent idiot. Had your head been screwed on right you would have taken any one of several easy steps to safety, such as pulling off the road for a quick doze or turning up the air-conditioner to chill yourself awake or driving a fingernail into a thigh to set yourself ajangle. But no. At the time, all you could think of was: maybe you needed more than a catnap when you reached home, maybe you needed a serious lie-down. Little did you suspect how serious that lie-down would be.
About a mile from my freeway exit, Pleasant Hill Road divides into Geary and Taylor Roads. I take Geary which is close to my home. I was on Geary driving the speed limit (35 miles an hour) when it happened. The curtain of sleep dropped of its own volition and the world vanished (even as I write this, I gasp). No more than a second or two later I was jolted awake by the impact of my car, a Honda Accord, slamming into a fire hydrant alongside the road. A geyser of water erupted from the hydrant as the car veered and crashed into a telephone pole.
Fatigued driving sign in Utah byPhil Konstantin, Wikipedia Commons
The front of the car was crushed like a balled-up piece of aluminum foil and the shatterproof windshield was shattered. A seat belt helped to protect me from the impact, but my body, normally in pretty good shape for a 72 year old woman, was twisted and thrown hard against the steering wheel striking my right breast. Although I remained conscious and felt no pain (that would come later), I knew I was hurt.
Read the rest of Naomi's article: http://www.seniorwomen.com/articles/articlesNaomiAccident.html
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