adric22
Well-known member
I'll preface this by saying nothing here was the Leaf's fault, but was still a horrible day.
As many may know the roads here in Dallas/Ft.Worth have been iced over the last 2 days. I was supposed to meet some friends and I had been told the streets were better, even though my street looked like a solid block of ice. So i ventured out. i live at the top of a hill, so getting down my street was no problem. The car slid most of the way even with the brakes on. I was concerned about getting back up. I went ahead and drove where I needed to go. Most of the busier streets seemed passable if I stayed in the trails left by other cars.
The problem was getting back up my own street. When I returned to my street, I could not get up the hill. I'd get so far and the Leaf would slide backwards. I tried several times and the last time the car went sideways and finally came to a rest still part way up the hill. This turned out to be the worst place to get stuck. When I tried to get out of the car the ground was so slippery it was impossible to stand, especially being on an incline. I had to find things on the Leaf to anchor myself to, and I felt uncomfortable doing that, fearing the car may start sliding with me holding onto it.
After a few minutes some guy came by in a 4x4 and offered to tow me up the hill. I needed to get the tow-hook out of the rear of the car and that was quite a challenge just to walk back there without falling, or having the car start sliding down the hill with me in the way. I managed to get the hook, for all the good it did. It became obvious the 4x4 could not make it up the hill either, so how was he supposed to tow me?
Well, my wife had walked down as well as some neighbors in an attempt to help. We started spreading cat-liter around. But I ended up slipping and my feet just flew up in the air and the rest of my body went down with a thud on the ice. I landed right square between my shoulder blades. I do not believe I hit my head. The pain was intense and I was sliding down the ice. I managed to grab ahold of the Leaf's wheel and eventually managed to pull myself into the Leaf and sit back in the driver's seat until the pain subsided. However, about 20 seconds later, my vision started to white-out like a camera that is being overexposed. I could barely see anything. I couldn't even read the numbers on the Leaf's GOM. I told my wife to call 911 because there was something wrong with me. Then I felt like I was going to pass out.
Even though we're not far away from a fire station it took 20 minutes for them to show up because they were so shorthanded. However, my vision had slowly returned to normal after about 5-10 minutes of sitting in the car. They said an ambulance was at least 30 minutes away because they were all busy dealing with these weather related things. They took my vitals and said I seemed fine. They offered to take me to the hospital, but said I'd have to wait for the ambulance to arrive. At this point I was shaking uncontrollably from being out in the cold for so long without proper attire. I decided the thing I wanted most was to go home. So I just left the car there and managed to get over to the ditch. The ditch was covered in ice but it was crunchy ice and it was actually possible to walk in it. So I walked in the ditch all the way back to my house.
My hands and feet were numb. I got in bed under an electric blanket and it took an hour to actually get me warmed back up to where I could get out of bed without shaking. My back was starting to feel really sore too. My wife came in and said they got the Leaf home because the city came out and poured sand on or street so she was able to drive the car back to the garage. That was good to know because I honestly figured it would have to just stay there until the ice melted tomorrow.
Well, here I am this morning and feeling quite sore, but haven't had any other neurological issues. The firemen thought surely I must have hit my head, but I'm quite sure I did not. I had no pain or bruising on the back of my head. After doing some research online I think a drop in blood-pressure is likely to blame due to overstimulating the vagus nerve. But I guess I'll never know for sure.
As many may know the roads here in Dallas/Ft.Worth have been iced over the last 2 days. I was supposed to meet some friends and I had been told the streets were better, even though my street looked like a solid block of ice. So i ventured out. i live at the top of a hill, so getting down my street was no problem. The car slid most of the way even with the brakes on. I was concerned about getting back up. I went ahead and drove where I needed to go. Most of the busier streets seemed passable if I stayed in the trails left by other cars.
The problem was getting back up my own street. When I returned to my street, I could not get up the hill. I'd get so far and the Leaf would slide backwards. I tried several times and the last time the car went sideways and finally came to a rest still part way up the hill. This turned out to be the worst place to get stuck. When I tried to get out of the car the ground was so slippery it was impossible to stand, especially being on an incline. I had to find things on the Leaf to anchor myself to, and I felt uncomfortable doing that, fearing the car may start sliding with me holding onto it.
After a few minutes some guy came by in a 4x4 and offered to tow me up the hill. I needed to get the tow-hook out of the rear of the car and that was quite a challenge just to walk back there without falling, or having the car start sliding down the hill with me in the way. I managed to get the hook, for all the good it did. It became obvious the 4x4 could not make it up the hill either, so how was he supposed to tow me?
Well, my wife had walked down as well as some neighbors in an attempt to help. We started spreading cat-liter around. But I ended up slipping and my feet just flew up in the air and the rest of my body went down with a thud on the ice. I landed right square between my shoulder blades. I do not believe I hit my head. The pain was intense and I was sliding down the ice. I managed to grab ahold of the Leaf's wheel and eventually managed to pull myself into the Leaf and sit back in the driver's seat until the pain subsided. However, about 20 seconds later, my vision started to white-out like a camera that is being overexposed. I could barely see anything. I couldn't even read the numbers on the Leaf's GOM. I told my wife to call 911 because there was something wrong with me. Then I felt like I was going to pass out.
Even though we're not far away from a fire station it took 20 minutes for them to show up because they were so shorthanded. However, my vision had slowly returned to normal after about 5-10 minutes of sitting in the car. They said an ambulance was at least 30 minutes away because they were all busy dealing with these weather related things. They took my vitals and said I seemed fine. They offered to take me to the hospital, but said I'd have to wait for the ambulance to arrive. At this point I was shaking uncontrollably from being out in the cold for so long without proper attire. I decided the thing I wanted most was to go home. So I just left the car there and managed to get over to the ditch. The ditch was covered in ice but it was crunchy ice and it was actually possible to walk in it. So I walked in the ditch all the way back to my house.
My hands and feet were numb. I got in bed under an electric blanket and it took an hour to actually get me warmed back up to where I could get out of bed without shaking. My back was starting to feel really sore too. My wife came in and said they got the Leaf home because the city came out and poured sand on or street so she was able to drive the car back to the garage. That was good to know because I honestly figured it would have to just stay there until the ice melted tomorrow.
Well, here I am this morning and feeling quite sore, but haven't had any other neurological issues. The firemen thought surely I must have hit my head, but I'm quite sure I did not. I had no pain or bruising on the back of my head. After doing some research online I think a drop in blood-pressure is likely to blame due to overstimulating the vagus nerve. But I guess I'll never know for sure.
