Got rammed on the motorway today at 80 by a sleeping driver

Tommy Cockles · July 23, 2013

Crazy scenes.

Was minding my own business at 70mph in the inside lane of a pratically empty motorway, did a mirror check & there's this BMW bearing down on me.

I thought (in the split seconds timeframe) "WTF is he doing he's going to hit me, why is he doing this?"

It was too late to avoid but at least I was prepared & so therefore kept control and am unscathed.

Managed to pull over onto the hard shoulder after swerving a bit, he pulls in behind me & turns out he had fallen asleep at the wheel (which at least answered my question)

Some HA Traffic Officers pulled up & he's admitted it to them too so its his liability at least.

Hitting me probably saved his life because he was on the drift & if he doesn't hit me he's hitting the barrier & thats not going to end well for him.

It just shows you what can happen out of absolutely nowhere & it has made me think about my own driving because even though I was absolutely blameless today the unavoidable truth of this situation is had I been fiddling with the Sat Nav/Aircon/Radio/Phone/Sandwich/whateveritis that I admit I've done thousands of times & which seem totally harmless at the time, even though it wouldn't have been my fault, the outcome would have undoubtedly been very diffferent.

And it not being my fault wouldnt be any consolation would it?

So I've learned a lesson today, if you are not prepared to give the road 100% of your attention (not 99%) 100% of the time (not 99%) then don't drive. If you are anything like me, then learn it too.

Cheers.

muleskinner · July 23, 2013

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