Crashing Off The Side Of A Mountain Doesn't Look Like My Idea Of Fun

'One year ago, today, I almost died' - this is the opening line of the description to the video where a driver of a Subaru Forester oversteers off the side of a mountain. Below is a full statement from one of the luckiest men alive!

The statement reads:

What happened? To put it simply, I was distracted at the one moment that required 110% focus on an unfamiliar road.

As an auto enthusiast, when you have a nice relatively fast car with a loud exhaust you tend to like tunnels. They make your exhaust sound that much better, sort of like singing in the shower… Well, I found myself accelerating through this nice long and dark pair of tunnels; I had done this many times before in other tunnels. At the exit, I could barely see because it was so bright, a person standing and holding something while motioning. Wondering what they were doing, I stared, and stared, reaching the top of 4th gear, all while trying to comprehend what they were trying to tell me. Then I figured it out. They were telling me to slow down and watch the curve ahead, but it was too late. When I think about it now, I don’t ever remember seeing the road ahead until I was nearly out of the tunnel. In my mind I had assumed that it just went straight. At that point I was exiting the tunnel straight as the road curved to the left. I had no time to slam on my brakes beforehand. Realizing I was going way too fast for that section, I applied the brakes softly in an effort to keep the back end from sliding out, but, combined with a bump and rough switch in surface texture from concrete to asphalt, I lost traction. I began sliding to the left, the car oversteering, rotating counter-clockwise, over the center marker. I counter-steered, turning the steering wheel all the way to the right, but kept sliding to the left into the turnout. It was at this moment I knew, I had f*cked up.

I slammed into a berm and expected to come to a complete stop, but the terrifying journey wasn’t over. I went over the edge. It happened so fast all I can remember is everything crashing and spinning. I thought I was rolling over down the side of the mountain. I was confident I was going to land upside down and get crushed. I was on the world’s worst roller coaster that could only end with death, or so I thought. I came to a stop, still yelling, not fully comprehending what just happened, or how far down the mountain I was and that I actually just crashed my car. Luckily for me, I landed on a rock wall that was part of a drainage pipe that went through the mountain. It was the only horizontally level piece on an extremely steep sloped hill. Had I spun off a few feet before or after, I’d be dead.

I never thought that I would be one of the guys that wrecks his car in the canyons. I’m not even close to being a pro driver, but I take a little pride in my situational awareness while driving, my somewhat decent understanding of vehicle dynamics and how various driver inputs affect a vehicle in motion, my autocross and canyon experience, and the fact that I haven’t gotten any tickets or into any accidents since I got my license. I guess I got too comfortable at the wrong moment and it got the best of me. It shows that things like this can happen to mostly anyone. The whole cruise up there was relaxed, leisurely, until that moment. I definitely wasn’t purposely trying to take that corner fast, I was caught up in the moment flying through those long tunnels, got distracted, and didn’t see the road ahead of me. I panicked last minute and that ultimately lead to this entire situation. I’m disappointed in myself, and I know some others may be disappointed in me as well. And I know it could have been worse in so many ways, and I’m kicking myself for that. But ultimately I’m glad to be alive and well.

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Comments

Anonymous

Glad you survived! One my practices when it comes to canyon runs is to know a course before I go hard on them and I advise the same to others. There are many who hit canyons/mountains with no knowledge of the course and end up pushing to hard at the wrong sections which lead them to violent accidents that can be fatal.

01/06/2016 - 03:27 |
3 | 0
Ariel G

Holy cr*p the YouTube comments are terrible. “Why did you brake and not do a 4 wheel drift like ken block?” (Paraphrasing). Anyone could have crashed in this situation. It’s a natural impulse to brake. And also, the camera footage always looks slower than the actual event.

01/06/2016 - 03:42 |
11 | 1

I’m sure it all must’ve happened in the blink of an eye too! Lucky guy!

01/06/2016 - 09:13 |
0 | 0

Not anyone for sure. But most people would. It takes some practice to handle that kind of situation properly. AWD is only safe if you know how to handle it, but to do that you have to train that sort of driving which most people never do.

01/06/2016 - 14:43 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

I’d be crying if that happened to me… because my car is hurt! :-(

01/06/2016 - 04:19 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

That was a gut wrenching bit when he gave that first “oh no”. He saw his death coming. How many other cars would of kept their occupant alive in this scenario? Go Subaru.

01/06/2016 - 04:42 |
2 | 1
Anonymous

Good thing he didn’t remove this tag or he would have flown down the mountain.

01/06/2016 - 06:38 |
20 | 0
Ryan Allsobrook

Comments are so better here compared to the idiotic YouTube ones

01/06/2016 - 08:16 |
2 | 1
Luke Aspley

Lucky it was a Subaru

01/06/2016 - 08:41 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

As much as I like the positive comments on here…. not one single person has commented about his slightly idiotic playing around with the camera while driving on, and I quote “an unfamiliar road” …. I’m glad the guy is OK, but seriously … when you’re behind the wheel, just bloody DRIVE

01/06/2016 - 09:21 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

Lift off oversteer can be a killer sometimes, if only people were taught that in cases like these, its best to apply the throttle again to point it in the right direction.

01/06/2016 - 09:27 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

It’s often the lessons learnt through mistakes and wallets that stick the most. Been there with a motorbike crash that I walked away from (still no idea how… just pure luck)

01/06/2016 - 09:38 |
1 | 0