he was thirsty too

No time for being all wimpy and injured when the pub is at hand

" . . . the careering vehicle . . . "

Seriously, the what now? By chance did they mean careening? Not sure how that happened, as the "n" key is nowhere near the "r" key.

Career isn't even a verb!

As in:
Hey! I'm careering here, man.

VERB

no object, with adverbial of direction Move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way.
‘the coach careered across the road and went through a hedge’

Origin
Mid 16th century (denoting a road or racecourse): from French carrière, from Italian carriera, based on Latin carrus ‘wheeled vehicle’.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/career

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VERB

1with object Turn (a ship) on its side for cleaning, caulking, or repair.
Example sentences
1.1no object (of a ship) tilt; lean over.
‘a heavy flood tide caused my vessel to careen dizzily’
More example sentencesSynonyms
2North American no object, with adverbial of direction Move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way.
‘an electric golf cart careened around the corner’

Origin
Late 16th century (as a noun denoting the position of a careened ship): from French carène, from Italian carena, from Latin carina ‘a keel’. Sense 2 was influenced by the verb career.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/careen

So 'career' is definitely the best word to use here. The American use of 'careen' appears to have come from a mistake by Edgar Rice Burroughs, that was kept, for no apparent reason - the first use of it that the OED quotes for 'to hurtle' is:

1923 E. R. Burroughs Chessmen of Mars vii. 70 The cruiser ‘Vanator’ careened through the tempest.

The use of 'career' for "move at high speed" dates back to 1647.