A California driver is lucky to be alive after his car went off the road and over a cliff in the mountains outside Los Angeles.
James Shaw Jr. lost control over his car coming out of a tunnel on the Angeles Crest Highway in January 2015, according to KTLA, but the incident is going viral more than a year later after he posted dashcam video of the harrowing incident on YouTube.
"To put it simply, I was distracted at the one moment that required 110% focus on an unfamiliar road," Shaw wrote on Instagram last year.
He said he assumed the road was straight, but it curved coming out of the tunnel and he went over.
Shaw wrote:
"It happened so fast all I can remember is everything crashing and spinning. I was confident I was going to land upside down and get crushed. I was on the world's worst roller coaster that could only end with death, or so I thought."
Fortunately, he landed on part of a drainage pipe that helped stop the car from going further down the cliff.
"It was the only horizontally level piece on an extremely steep sloped hill," Shaw wrote. "Had I spun off a few feet before or after, I’d be dead."
He also posted an image of the 2004 Subaru Forester XT being pulled up the cliff:
Shaw wrote in a blog post about the incident that one of his rescuers was the actor Lou Ferrigno, who played The Incredible Hulk on TV from 1977 through 1982.
He said Ferrigno, who is a reserve deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and volunteers for Montrose Search and Rescue Team, told him he was so lucky he should buy a lottery ticket.
"I think my luck was already used," Shaw wrote.
Last week, Shaw revisited the scene to reflect on his near-death experience.
"[It] altered my outlook on many things, for the better. I made sure to live a bit more, take nothing for granted, enjoy as much as possible, and drive safer. I'm glad to be here alive and in good health, with good family and good friends," he wrote on Instagram.
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