Last night, a Kia Seltos owner had to go to the airport to pick up his relatives who were arriving on a late-night flight at 2 AM. He had planned to leave home by 12:30 AM and wanted to take some rest in the afternoon; however, due to some or other work, he could not rest, nor did he get an opportunity later in the evening. He then decided to let go of sleep altogether because if he slept at around 10/11 PM, he would not have got up in time (he is a very sound sleeper).
At 12:30 AM, he left his home in GZB and took the DME. As soon as he got on, he doesn’t know what prompted him (surely it was God), and he turned on the ACC and all 3 lane features (LKA, LDW & LFA). He was cruising all along till Akarshardham when suddenly he felt the strong jerks in the steering and the car sway towards the left.
He was jolted, and it didn’t take long for him to realize that he had slept off. He thinks it was only for a very brief period, less than half a minute he thinks, because he was still near Akshardham. He turned on the hazard lights and pulled over towards the side. He was in shock and numb. He had narrowly missed a disaster. He had fresh water with him; he washed his face thoroughly and decided to go to the breakout point just a few meters ahead at the start of Yamuna Bridge to have a cup of tea and think over what just happened.
Clearly, lack of sleep had taken its toll. While he was attentive and well prepared mentally that he had to drive and wouldn’t get sleep at least for the next few hours, his body failed him, even if for a few seconds. Those few seconds were enough to cause irreparable damage. The only thing that saved him last night was ADAS!! If he had not turned on the lane assist features, he would have surely crashed into the median and given the speed (exactly 70 KM/Hr) his car was in, it would have been a fatal crash.
The other thing he realized is that ACC only works if there is a moving vehicle ahead; it does not work in case the barrier ahead is a stationary object because his car had not slowed down during the near miss. (more on this in his next post)He thanked his stars, God, and the engineers at KIA for his lucky escape resumed his journey and drove at a speed below 60 throughout. Thankfully the rest of the journey (& the return journey) was uneventful.