I bet you must have seen, heard or even told someone the above words.
But in most cases, the people saying this believe that the above is the truth because they are sober and in control.
So what happens when all of you are drunk or plainly high on that intoxicating substance that makes a lot of young people take decisions that may be life-threatening, that disease that affects the young, of which there is no known cure, called youthful exuberance?
Ever heard the word YOLO? You Only Live Once. Or the saying you've got one life to live so live it? Well, I'm a proponent of a healthy lifestyle, enjoying the good things of life, and heck even a walk to that dark side every once in a while.
But I try not to be involved in drunk driving, for I would rather walk than enter a car driven by a drunk driver.
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One day in 2015, a family friend's daughter was having her tradition wedding at Enugu, South East Nigeria, and I got invited.
It was a pretty smooth journey to Enugu.
The car is a fairly used car aka direct tokunbo. Everything in the car was in top condition, the air conditioning was superb. It was a joy ride. We arrived Enugu late and slept over for the wedding next day.
Next day was the wedding but as customary with such events, there was music, there was also drinks. I wouldn't call myself an alcoholic or even a person that indulges in a binge, but that day I took a few. I wasn't drunk, neither was I 100% sober. I know what I was doing, but you would not compare my state of being to that of a person who did not drink. It's a wedding for crying out loud! The drinks aren't going to drink itself. It's a tough job, but I guess someone has to do it :)
Now that we are on the same page I can continue.
As is customary with most Igbo traditional wedding, it is not something that just ends that early, the wedding rites took the whole of that day. I thought it would be ok to leave the next day, but my friend has other ideas. Against our host advice, we took off to the next state's capital, Owerri in Imo State at about 5 PM. Owerri is about a two-hour ride from Enugu.
In a little while, there was a slight drizzle, and we wound up the glass.
We were formerly riding with the glass down.
Usually, we maintained a speed between the range 100km/hr to 120km/hr (
about 62 to 74 mph).
image credit: pixabay.com
That's normal for an interstate highway. It was a smooth journey and road was lonely.
The next time I looked at the dashboard (I was with him in the front seat) I noticed the needle is at 170km/hr (about 105mph). That may not seem like a high speed but when driving on Nigerian highways, especially the one you are not familiar with as there are sometimes surprises, in the form of potholes which you would not want to encounter.
I mistook the 105mph to be 105km/hr (about 65mph) which I think should be ok considering the road is new to us coupled with the drizzling rain.
I think my confusion may be due to my slightly tipsy state or the fact the car is in top condition and roads not full of potholes. The glasses wound up, plus the cool music and rain also contributed to this lull in my thought processes.
So even when I realized it was 170km/hr and the car is taking it just fine, I decided to enjoy the freaking music and not be such a killjoy and risk-averse Nazi.
Suddenly, the car went off the asphalted portion of the road, my friend tried to regain control.
That made it worse and the vehicle skidded out of control went airborne. I noticed I was held in place by the cars seat belt, as the car somersaulted. It stopped as suddenly as it started. The car's engine was idling. Everything surrounding us was bushes and small trees. I managed to unfasten my seat belts and climbed out through the now glassless window, as the glasses had shattered on impact.
As soon as my feet touched the ground, I noticed three young men sprinting to where we are. They were construction workers working on a high-rise building nearby. One of them said he saw our vehicle in the air and alerted others.
I've read and seen countless stories about people who had an accident, and the story always has this intriguing detail: the number of somersaults.
Some would tell you their car somersaulted five times, others another specific number of time.
I've always wondered how they were able to count the number of turns it made.
That day, the car somersaulted, but just as I told you, one second we were on the road, the next we were in the bush. I can't say how many times the vehicle somersaulted. My memory or power of observation must have to be bad.
The car being prepared to be towed the next day
Back to the story, the workers were surprised to see us standing beside the now wrecked SUV.
image credit:pixabay.com
They could not hide their surprise as they must've expected a worse outcome. I guess that being on seat belts helped. Most Nigerians only put on a seat belt on sighting the Road Safety Officers. I've always wondered the reason a sane person would want to be reminded or even forced to fasten it on before doing so.
We had to visit the clinic for a checkup. The doctors said we were ok. Next day, we hired a tow truck to take the car back to Enugu so the repair could start. A mild drama ensued when we couldn't locate where the car was!
We never imagined it was that far into the bush!
But we later located the car and towed it to Enugu.
The car being towed to Enugu
The repair of that SUV took six months. The story behind it would make for an interesting post. I may just do it :)
Footnote: Please, do not drink and drive. ALWAYS wear your seatbelts. Avoid night driving if you could help it.
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