Very sorry to hear this for both you and your GF's family.

 

So incredibly sorry to hear such sad news Bit. I pray for strength and comfort for your family in such a horrible time as this.

I remember during my college days, once I drove a total of 15 hours up and down Florida in the span of a day with two friends. On the last leg of the trip, all I remembered was suddenly waking up. I traversed the entire three lane highway from the left lane and ended up in the farthest one right. Of course my two friends were sleeping and didn't notice a thing. It was the single scariest driving moment I've had in the 12 years I've been driving.

 

 

Two years ago we were brinhing my late sister's CR-V that she'd given me back to IL from IA. I was driving the Honda and my wife was following in our Audi. We were on heavily travelled I-80 in western IL doing 70mph. I looked in the rear view mirror and out of the blue the Audi just veered off the road and into the ditch doing 70. A helpless and frightening feeling to say the least. With all of the traffic (a lot of trucks). I had to slow down and pull off on to the shoulder. By the time I got out of the car, she was able to drive out of the ditch and on to the shoulder and get the car stopped.

She'd fallen asleep (it was 2:00 PM) and fortunately the tossing of the car woke her up. Although we were less the an hour from home we pulled off at the next town and stayed in a hotel overnight. It can happen so easily and quickly.

 

that is sad my condolences.

i remember one time i drove cross country , i was only 2 hours away after staying up for two days. thought i could save money and time by not sleeping. but every time i blinked, i have driven 2-3 miles down the freeway and that literally scared me enough to stop and get a room. you can be very dangerous behind the wheels even when you're completely sober. be safe everyone .

 

He was taken too soon.

My condolences.

 

My condolences.
Very very sad news. Nobody should ever have to deal with this.

 

All I can add is to tell her that a lot of folks she's never met (or never will) on this board are thinking of her and offering some silent prayers. In time, the pain will recede.

 

I remember a few years ago I was going to take a long drive from the East Coast down South after staying with a friend and I was not able to fall asleep the night before. I planned to leave early that morning but did not have to so I just decided to stay another day and get a better nights rest. I knew it would be very risky and dangerous to make a 12 hour trip without getting enough sleep the night before, many people won't understand if you say you need more rest before a long road trip but only you know what is best for you and it is not worth the risk to drive tired.

There were a couple times when I would go to the beach to go fishing or party and would just crash in my car and I never got any sleep, driving home from the beach late at night was a little nerve racking but I would drink a coke and sit up more to make sure I did not doze off. I remember working 3rd shift at a plant that had a weight room, after the shift I would work out for a hour or so before driving home and there was 1 or 2 times I just went from being awake to very tired within a matter of seconds, the so tired you are dizzy, luckily my place was not that far and I got off that awful 3rd shift.

 

 

That's really sad. I also thought the 17 toyotas and the safety systems standard. I myself have had a few close encounters being extremely tired at the wheel. My trick is to blast the radio and open the window. The fresh air and the wind usually does the trick. My uncle, while driving from SF to LA, must have been 15+ years ago, also fell asleep and is lucky to be a live. Many months of therapy.

 

thanks for all the condolences team... the funeral was tough but tons of love and support there helped, but now it's harder, particularly for my girlfriend, as you can imagine. her son would call her every day, typically with something funny to cheer her up.

i know i said before about not wanting to analyze his crash (thanks for respecting that), but it does seem all '17 corollas do have the full safety suite so i am wondering if he turned lane departure alert/assist turned off, or whether he veered and darted across the lanes at a significant angle - he hit the right guard rail, then a bridge barrier, then over that, down into a ditch and tree - seems he must have done more than just drift over into the shoulder, if he just grazed the guard rail, perhaps he would have 'bounced' back onto the highway... no speculation will bring him back, but it's still hard not knowing what happened. we're waiting for the police report, and i believe they did interview a witness, so maybe we will learn in time.

 

Very sorry to hear of this. Please accept my condolences.

 

I don't understand the loss of a child, hopefully I never do, but I found that other people I've lost such as my Dad, getting back to my daily life was the hardest part. Through the funeral planning and the funeral and the burial theres so much to do and distraction and support, but once thats all over and you're just left alone with the grief, thats when it really gets a lot worse.

I'm thinking about you both, be there for each other...and don't hesitate to reach out and talk to somebody about it, a counselor or support group or a therapist.

I have this on the Pacifica and while it will give you a little nudge and put you back in the lane, if you really are headed straight across a lane market it isn't going to correct for that, doesn't work if a blinker is on, and it doesn't work if it doesn't have the lines in the road. On the Pacifica the little light goes from white to green when it has the lines and you can see that quite often it drops or loses the lines.

I don't think that particular system would reliably stop this sort of accident from happening.

 

Agreed...particularly if one had tire-failure, especially on a front wheel.

Bit, while respecting your request not to keep delving into the cause of the crash, I still think it's very important that the police or fire department report if he was belted-in properly or not....and/or if the airbag went off. The 2017 Corolla was supposedly past the time they had those defective Takada air-bag sensors, but, who knows?......