The radio went out. Huh, that’s weird, I thought, as I continued driving. There must be some interference from driving next to an airport.
I was on my way to a happy hour for a colleague who is moving to another city. The restaurant was less than a 10 minute drive away, so driving in silence was not a big deal – I’ve done it for longer periods of time before. I’ve driven by the airport many times, but maybe the airport is testing out some new regulation today.
I kept driving and seconds later, the dashboard started blinking. Interesting, I thought. That’s new. I was still close to the airport, so maybe I was still within the range of the interference. I kept going, and admired the beautiful sunset over the ocean. It looked so majestic with the deep red, orange, and yellow hues. This is so beautiful I should drive during sunset more often, I told myself.
My feelings quickly went from admiring the sunset to confusion when the ABS light on my dashboard turned on, followed by the brake light. The speed on my dashboard also dropped to zero. Why is the brake light on if my car is still moving? It must be a glitch.
By now, I was on the last segment of the route. It was a four-lane road with a speed limit of 45mph and no shoulder. Should I stop and pull over? Where can I even pull over? I looked at my navigation. I’m two minutes away from my destination. I only need to make a left turn at the light, drive 0.7 miles, and then I’ll be at the restaurant.
I pulled into the left turn pocket as my car jerked a little. I’ll check out the car once I park.
There were only a few cars ahead of me in the left turn lane, and I patiently waited for my turn. As I pulled up to be the next car to turn, my car felt weak and the lights went out. Just one turn to go…A car was approaching, but it was an opportunity to turn. I stepped on the gas pedal.
My car trembled, then crawled like a snail. It inched forward halfway into the left turn and lost momentum. I was still mid-turn. GO, CAR, GO! I screamed internally at my car. I floored the gas pedal. It gathered its last bit of energy, took its final breath, and moved a few more feet. My car completely shut down with just enough momentum to roll past the intersection. Dashboard, gone. Lights, gone. Engine, gone.
I stared at my steering wheel in disbelief. Did my car just stop moving? Maybe I can still make it to the restaurant. I tried starting it again. No luck. I turned on my emergency lights. It was barely flashing. Sigh. A jump starter only turned on the car for a few seconds. Then, it shut down again.
I called for a tow truck and waited and waited. Luckily, my car was out of the intersection and this street had a bike lane. I somehow even managed to be as close to the curb as possible unintentionally before it shut down. The speed limit was still 40mph on this street so cars were zooming by, but at least I wasn’t in the middle of the road! Dense fog came in and visibility went down. 2 hr 50 minutes and a DoorDashed dinner later, the tow truck finally arrived.
The tow truck driver said my car is too close to the curb for him to tow it, so he asked me to put the car in neutral and try turning the steering wheel. I did just as he said, but as my car rolled backwards, the brakes wouldn’t work. I couldn’t push down. The tow truck driver told me to park the car just in time.
When my car turned on for a few seconds, I was able to check how many miles my car had driven. 207,746 miles on the car. I had just filled up the gas tank not too long ago too.
I never made it to the happy hour. When I looked through the videos from my dash cam, I realized my car lost its power just as I got into the left turn lane. The car somehow made it past the left turn and didn’t block traffic. What’s next with the car? Getting it fixed.