As rumrunn said, ride the drops! This was near "law" when I was racing 40 years ago and that was when we had brake cables to keep our hands in place. Incidents like yours with poor outcomes have become far more common since the advent of aero brake levers and the fascination with riding on the hoods nearly all the time. Lance Rmstropng lost two key teammates to incidents similar to yours in training prior to two of his wins.

I always set my bikes up so the drops are all-day comfortable first, before I even look at the hoods. And I go to those drops anytime the road looks iffy, I am going fast or my attention is waning (like when I am seriously cooked). The message drummed through our brains when I was learning to race was that we couldn't afford to crash because that set back our training so much. Therefore we had to use hand positions that minimized crashes.

Yes, I sound like a retrogrouch here. But I also see and here this story all the time. (And bike manufacturers don't help when they sell bikes that don't even have really comfortable drops to use.)

Ben