Driver who fell asleep at the wheel nearly impaled by fence post in Kennewick crash

A drowsy driver narrowly avoided being impaled by a wooden fence post after he careened through a fence Monday night.

The driver had spent the day hiking out of state and had already driven several hours before he arrived in Kennewick, police said. He nodded off behind the wheel near the intersection of 10th Avenue and 8th Place just after 9 p.m.

His Volkswagen crashed into a fire hydrant before continuing through a fence and stopping in a backyard. The wooden fence splintered apart and at least one of the posts smashed through the windshield and missed the man by inches.

Kennewick police said in a Facebook post that the driver was miraculously not hurt. They took him to a local hotel where he could get some sleep.

Officers noted that drowsy driving is nearly as dangerous as drunk driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says there are, on average, 100,000 crashes linked to drowsy driving each year. Of those, 71,000 resulted in injuries and 1,550 killed someone.