Discussion: Man Holding Breath In Oregon Tunnel Causes Crash

Discussion for article #223160

Clearly, there wasn’t much oxygen getting to his brain to begin with, so ten seconds of additional oxygen deprivation was the limit.

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Uh, do we have a runnerup for a Darwin Award, or nah?

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Let’s hope it is a long time before he is able to drive a car again.

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At least he wasn’t planking?.

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It doesn’t add up. There isn’t anyone alive who would be unable to hold their breath for 10 seconds while retaining consciousness. Even my mother, the day before she died of lung cancer, would have taken longer than 10 seconds to lose consciousness. I’d imagine a healthy 19 year old would take at least a couple of minutes (and likely longer) to pass out.

Now that he has that off his tunnel bucket list, next he’s going to do “closing his eyes”

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Agreed. There’s more to this story than we know. Holding breath with a helium balloon or a bong hit? There’s got to be something else. 10 seconds is nothing.

I think several weeks in jail and then some community service in an emergency room ought to clear up this kid’s head.

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Likely a bong hit was involved

Tough to imagine that the police wouldn’t have found said “bong.” The kid, moron though he may be, hasn’t been charged with possession or DUI.

Frankly, I can’t come up with a plausible scenario for this one.

Effing idiot. Take his license for a few years until he realizes he’s not the only one on the road.

Stupidity it is then.

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And here I thought calling “pink elephants” while crossing railroad tracks was always a dumb thing to do…

I’ve been doing the hold your breath through a tunnel for good luck thing for two decades, and as long as you aren’t stupid enough to hold it past when you start feeling the need to breathe it is perfectly safe fun. Certainly more safe than talking on your cell phone while driving. Only twice have I not made it through the tunnel: the tunnel through the Ko’olau mountains on the H3 in Hawaii, and the Channel Tunnel from England to France (although in fairness, I knew I wasn’t going to make that one, I just started it as a gag).

That said, ten seconds? I’m not even convinced that the human body is efficient enough to strip all of the oxygen out of your blood in ten seconds, much less transport it to the brain, use it all up, and then shut down the brain. Unless there was heavy traffic in the tunnel slowing him down dramatically, something else is going on here that caused this accident, and it wasn’t holding his breath.

10 seconds? Stay out of Pittsburgh, amateur.

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I thought whoever wrote the article is just as dumb as the kid for not adding the context that to any living creature on earth 10 seconds is not long enough to pass out.

The kid is probably lying to cover up something more embarrassing. As a kid that age, I crashed into a parked car, because I looked into the back seat to see if eggs in the groceries I bought were broken when something shifted after I made a turn. Rather than tell the officer the truth when he arrived, I panicked and I made up an even more ludicrous story about adjusting my glasses–I was young, embarrassed and nervous. It wouldn’t surprise me, if something similar happened here.

In any event, I wonder if an underlying medical condition can be ruled out. I’d be interested to hear from a Dr. I imagine holding your breath this briefly shouldn’t cause one to pass out, but could it precipitate some vasovagal response or other event that causes disruption in blood to the brain or could the kid have some kind of underlying condition?

Could have been a joint… After the crash one of the car occupants could have eaten what was left, and the car being crashed “wide open” could have dissipated the smell by the time cops got there.

Bill Clinton is grateful

He is now no longer has the dumbest single use of the “I did not inhale” legal strategy.