Thought I Had Fallen Asleep At The Wheel And Was Going To Die

This was a couple months ago but I was just reminded of it today because I was getting tired on the road and this experience reminded me to play it safe. Even missing a whole day at home is not worth crashing the truck and losing your job from falling asleep.

During the heavy rains I was driving in the dark and started getting sleepy. The rain was coming down strong enough to wash your truck as good as a Blue Beacon and even though my destination was only an hour away I decided I would stop at a rest area and hoped there would be a parking spot left for me.

Luckily someone was pulling out right as I came in so I set my alarm for half an hour to get a quick nap. My team partner was sleeping in the back so I just got a pillow and slept spread out over the seats up front.

Thirty minutes later the alarm wakes me up in the middle of some dream and there I am at the wheel with rain coming down and trucks on both sides of me. The place was dark except for the facility lights so I could not see too well. I had the reefer going along with someone else idling. I was so terrified that I did a death grip on the wheel and kept trying to brake, lightly at first and then mashing the pedal over and over. It is a miracle the clutch pedal did not break off either. Took about six seconds for me to realize I was still parked but I can remember every single one of them.

Spooky! I've experienced the same thing in automobiles . . . I guess if you are prone to having a heart attack from being scared half to death, that's when it will happen . . .

Jopa

Probly would have been better to move to the passenger seat for your nap. :D

I've seen people do that. They'll park and then fall asleep laying over the steering wheel. When they wake up they think they've fallen asleep at the wheel and freak out like their pants are full of bees and their hair is on fire. Funniest d*mn thing you'll ever see!!!!

It's terrifying when it happens to you though. Every trucker has nightmares of crashing at some point or wakes up thinking the truck is rolling because the wind is rocking it.