How the briefest of peeks at sat nav almost ended in disaster

His brother John sent me this to highlight what a tiny distraction can lead to.

The accident happened on a straight country road outside Ballydesmond, on the Cork-Kerry border, a little before 9am.

After several dry, sunny days the rain had returned and the road was wet.

His first mistake was looking down at the sat nav. As he did so, the car veered slightly to the left.

The front wheel snagged the ditch. He thought he had blown a tyre.

He took his foot off the gas and hit the brake. Nothing happened.

The car careened across the road at speed. He was aquaplaning on the wet surface. He wrenched the wheel left. The car spun and began recrossing the road.

“Panic turned to pure fear. The car was not responding to anything I did,” he said.

“I was a passenger, holding on for dear life and bracing myself for what seemed inevitable.”

Then he saw what he was about to hit. A big road sign filled his windscreen. He spun the wheel. It made no difference.

The car went up the ditch, crashed over the top of a metal gate. He was airborne.

He thought of his son and daughter, sad he might not see them grow up.

As the car hit the field, he was thrown forward. The airbag exploded. He heard nothing but saw it all.

The car rolled on to its roof, then spun. He tucked his head into his chest and hung on. Finally, the car came to rest.

“My Nissan Qashqai was now a Nissan Concertina.”

He had lost concentration for a moment to look at the sat nav.

“It was pure chance that let me walk away, while others in similar situations end up as statistics.”