We had been hiking in the mountains and were on the way home in the late afternoon. It was warm, I was tired, and before long I was dozing off in the back seat. Suddenly I was rudely awakened to find myself in a fishtailing SUV crossing into the oncoming lanes. I remember seeing cars heading towards us and thinking calmly that SUVs are notorious for rolling in these situations. On cue, the vehicle flipped onto the side I was sitting on. The window was down and a blur of the high-speed pavement filled the hole where the view used to be. I remember seeing sunlight reappear in that opening, which I knew meant we weren't done rolling, then a loud BANG as the vehicle landed back on its wheels and stopped. The seat-back behind me had collapsed, and I was half lying in the cargo area. I pulled myself up to sitting and immediately a waterfall of blood ran past my eyes. "I'm bleeding," I shouted, and lifted my hand to explore the source of the blood. I then noticed that part of a finger was not where I left it, so I added "and my finger is missing." The door on my side would not open, and by then the driver was out and encouraging me to climb out the other side. He helped me to the side of the road, and got me to lay down. Someone pressed a towel to my head. Eventually an ambulance came, and I ended up in hospital with just a scalp wound and the missing finger. The other passenger had a bruised elbow. The driver was uninjured.

I learned later that the driver had also taken a nap when I did, and the vehicle had strayed onto the shoulder, at which point the front seat passenger - who was thankfully awake, but did not have any driving experience - gave the steering a shove to avoid plunging down a steep bank into a river. This likely caused the loss of control, but was still better than being in the river. I am told that the vehicle rolled 3 full times, but I remember nothing between the start of the first, and the end of the last. At least I did not die!