Generally, this is the car I was driving at the time...But Dark Navy Blue. 1998 or so Mazda Miata.
Close calls eh? I’ll give you a close call!
Back in 2001 my cousin Heather came to visit me at my home in West Knoxville, TN. She was staying about 20 miles South West of me at her Mother’s home in Lenoir City. Since it had been a long time between meetings she and I, along with a few other cousins, headed out for a night of Karaoke....Well, they sang, and I sat there enjoying the show. Well, we closed the place down around 2am and I drove her home to her Mom’s place. After saying goodnight I headed home around 2:45 or so. I was traveling on I-40 East just past the Lovell Road exit when things started to get interesting. I was in the far left lane going about 70, just cruzin’ down the highway, when I came upon a semi truck hauling fuel in the middle lane (3 lanes total). He was going the typical 60 or so when I approached him. Ready, here it comes now....I was quite tired at that point and fell asleep at the wheel. The last thing I remember was having my car about to pass him in the left lane. The next thing I know I hear this loud “brrrrrrrrrt!” sound along with a complete rumbling of the car. I woke up, looked around, grabbed the wheel and jerked it to the left to get back into the FAR RIGHT lane! I was so confused I didn’t know what the heck was going on. I noticed that the semi truck was on my left side now and about 50 yards ahead of me still in his original middle lane.
I had fallen asleep, continued to pass the semi, drifted across the front of his truck and crossed 3 lanes of highway to wake up on the rumble strip on the far right lane! If it were not for the rumble strip I certainly would have gone right off the side and done much more damage to me, my car and property. WOW! That was a close one.
Needless to say, I had NO trouble staying wake for the next 5 minutes it took for me to get home safely!
Lesson: Pull over and take a 10-15 minute power nap if you need to but DO NOT drive when you’re tired!
JC