Some people just can’t hold their oxygen.
19-year-old Daniel J. Calhon, of Snohomish, Washington, was either playing a little game, or who knows what. But the guy decided to hold his breath as he drove through a tunnel. Some people do this, it is true. Some have a superstition about being underground like that, and hold their breath until they clear the other side of the tunnel. No problem, usually. Some say that, if you can hold your breath all the way through a tunnel, and make a wish, your wish will come true.
But Calhon ended up fainting from holding his breath, crossed the center line, smashed head-on into another vehicle, and ended up in a three-car crash. In a tunnel.
The accident happened in the Highway 26 tunnel near the community of Manning, Oregon. The tunnel is less than 800 feet long and is a 55 mile per hour zone.
Calhon was driving a 1990 Toyota Camry, and smashed into a Ford Explorer. Both vehicles bounced off the walls of the tunnel. Another pickup truck then hit Calhon’s Camry. He was carrying a passenger in his car, another 19-year-old. The Explorer he hit was occupied by Thomas and Candace Hatch, in their 60s. All four people were taken to the hospital.
Fortunately, the two folks in the truck were not hurt. Calhon and his buddy had non-life-threatening injuries, as did the Hatch couple.
According to investigators, Calhon told them he was holding his breath when he fainted. Investigators said that, if Calhon were traveling at the speed limit of 55 mph, it would have taken him about ten seconds to clear the tunnel.
In the future, part of driver training will be going through a tunnel, if you hold your breath, you fail.
— Jeff Smith (@TheComicHunter) May 27, 2014
Image via YouTube