The most frightening 10 seconds of my life.
Meandering up the A38 in the passenger seat of my mums Vauxhall Vectra, I found myself the subject of heavy eyes and a need to snooze. Mum's conversations are dull at best, so I decided to catch up on some Zs. I was probably only out for around 15 minutes or so before I was forced back into the realm of the conscious.

The reason for my rude awakening was an uneasy feeling in terms of the Vauxhall's forward motion. It had gone from smooth to rough and rumbly, not what I'm used to from the A38.

Looking up I saw that we had in fact left the road, opting to drive on the gravel verge beside it. Our new destination, as seen through blurry, tired eyes appeared to be the solid and immovable stone upright of a railway bridge.

I turned to my mum only to see that she had also fallen asleep. I grabbed the wheel and quickly pointed the car in a safe direction, back onto the A38. The gravel was wet and loose though, so initially I was greeted with understeer. The tyres did dig in though, and the Vectra jolted back onto the road.

We missed the bridge pillar by around 4-5 foot, all while traveling at roughly 60mph. It's a 2001 car, full of ABS and airbags and whatnot but the combination of that wall and that speed would have rendered airbags and crumple-zones useless. It would have been a direct, head-on hit.

My mum came round with a start, looking shocked and mystified. Probably because I was white and covered in a cold sweat.

I swear to God the Reaper himself was in the back seat, he just wanted a thrill. I'm confident that what happened is as close to death as one can get without being physically injured.
( The Pollitt chooses to listen to Enya on, Thu 19 Aug 2010, 16:36, 1 reply)

Truly scary and for that you get a click!
( Vambo, Thu 19 Aug 2010, 19:42, closed)