Slightly O/T as it's a bit lacking in humour, but...
Sat in the passenger seat of my Mum's car, as we're hurtling up the A38.

By this point, I'm asleep. My head filled with whimsical dreams and a faint ringing noise as a by product of a heavy night 12 hours before.

As I come around, I open my eyes to see we've gone slightly off-angle, resulting into us heading right for a bridge parapet at roughly 60mph.

I glanced at my mum, she'd fallen asleep. I screamed and quickly grabbed the wheel, putting the car back on path via a sharp and sudden alteration.

My mum came round, looked at me, unaware of the near miss and asked why I looked so shocked. I said I'd tell her when we got home.

When I told her, she cried.

It was a newish car, with air bags and crumple zones and the like, but at 60mph into concrete none of that would matter.

I think that's the closest I have been to death without having been injured.
( The Pollitt chooses to listen to Enya on, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 13:59, 6 replies)

M6
Happened to me also, I was in a land Rover towing a trailer with another Land rover on it.

Going along in the slow lane all is well, woke up half way into the fast lane with a lot of horns and flashing lights behind.

Luckily it was in the late afternoon and I got away with it. A proper scary moment that I never want to happen again. The weird thing is I sort of knew it was going to happen but with every bit of strength I had i could not stop my eyes shutting, windows open, music full blast still no good.
(amsterdam_neild, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 14:38, closed)

Incredible luck that you enter conciousness just as she departs. Also, good idea; about the waiting until you got home. An upset driver is dangerous as well.

Regarding amsterdam_neild, they're known as microsleeps. You know they're coming, but there's not a damn thing you can do to stop them - no amount of willpower, caffiene, noise, or fresh air, can over-ride them. You can only reduce their probability by driving well-rested.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 15:24, closed)

microsleeps
very cojmmon amongst night workers; a lot of medication errors occur due to these with night nurses.
(kitescreech still here, Wed 18 Feb 2009, 9:13, closed)

Yep,
as a Narcoleptic, I know all about these little naps, but I also know that I couldn't give a flying fuck what time I have to be somewhere, if I'm driving and I get that feeling, I HAVE to pull over and sleep it off, no matter how close I am to the destination. Obviously, it's tricky on Motorways, Trafpol wouldn't appreciate me having 40 winks on the hard shoulder, but I'll get off next junction and stop. A major pain in the arse, but then so are the consequences of ignoring it.
(Rsoles, Mon 16 Feb 2009, 19:44, closed)

This is one...
of the reasons, even as a nipper I have never slept in a car - I don't care how tired/ill/hungover I am, I will never sleep whilst moving.

To put my fear into context this also extends to planes and trains, although I appreciate I probably don't have too much chance waking a napping pilot...
(feedingtimeatthezoo day 1 of his bikini diet started, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 0:36, closed)

Couple of stout fellows....
.... three brothers that i knew of - well, I knew ONE of the brothers, and he was the one to retell a similar tale:

They were heading accross the Nullarbor from Perth (in the west) to Adelaide (toward the east) in Australia for an exhibition kart race at the Aussi F1 GP one year. Two of the lads had superkarts and had put them on the back of their old Datsun ute; one in the tray, the second kart on a frame over the first. The third brother was their mechanic.

The distance form Perth to Adeliade is around 2800km. I've done it on a motorbike in 2 days and that was a hard slog. They were going to do it in ONE, each taking turns at driving. The little Datto could only *just* accommodate these lads across the bench seat and they had to squeeze in, shoulder to shoulder.... which half way into their trip proved to be a saviour - one of the brothers awoke to find BOTH his brothers fast alseep. The driver having his hands on the bottom of the wheel, one arm pinned to the door and the other pinned to the brother in the middle such that the wheel couldn't turn. An auto pilot, if you will.

The one thing to remember here is that across the Nullarbor, the road can go on without bends for many, many miles. (One that I personally rememeber was 96km, marked at each end with a sign warning of kangaroos, emus and camels on the road).

The three brothers never really knew just how long, or how FAR they had travelled with all on board asleep...!
(Sir Jester, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 7:58, closed)