Here’s a friendly reminder to drive with caution on Angeles Crest Highway, courtesy of someone who found out the hard way.
YouTube user TurboFoz uploaded this dashcam footage Monday of a crash he survived exactly a year ago on the treacherous San Gabriel Mountain road.
As he tells it in his YouTube post and Facebook note, he was driving his 2004 Subaru Forester XT on Angeles Crest Highway on Jan. 4, 2015. For fun, and because he liked the sound, he really went for it inside the tunnels.
“As an auto enthusiast, when you have a nice relatively fast car with a loud exhaust you tend to like tunnels,” he wrote. “They make your exhaust sound that much better, sort of like singing in the shower.”
As he approached the end of the tunnel, he struggled to see the road on the sunny day. He did, however, notice a person standing on the side of the road signaling something to him.
“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,” he wrote. “Then I figured it out. They were telling me to slow down and watch the curve ahead, but it was too late.”
TurboFoz says he didn’t know the road curved ahead and when he realized he wouldn’t make it at his speed he slammed on his brakes. Then he skidded across the road, drove off the edge of the highway and tumbled down the side of the mountain.
“It happened so fast all I can remember is everything crashing and spinning,” TurboFoz wrote. “I was on the world’s worst roller coaster that could only end with death.”
But TurboFoz’s car came to rest on a drainage pipe that juts out of the mountain and he emerged from the car on his own and unhurt.
Rescue crews still came to the site to pull him from the wreckage and to assess his totaled car.
Among the rescuers was Lou Ferrigno, the actor famous for playing The Incredible Hulk, who told TurboFoz to buy a lotto ticket.
TurboFoz says he posted the video to YouTube with the hopes that it would inspire others to drive more safely.
“This is a reminder to be safe, pay attention and KNOW THE ROAD before you try to have “fun” on it,” he said. “I failed on all 3 of those accounts and it nearly cost me my life. I’ve more than learned my lesson and would hope some others do by my example.”
