[t-3]

I had something similar happen when I was a passenger in a car accident. I had been asleep and woke up just before the impact. I watched the car's front end crumple in slow motion and was able to protect my head and "roll" with the collision to come out unscathed.

[thenthenthen]

I always assumed the slowing down of time effect was induced by hyper alertness from the dose of adrenaline you get when in trouble.