Things Can Turn Badly So Fast!

Yesterday I was southbound out of Denver on I-25 down around Castle Rock. I'm cruising at 65 mph on a beautifully clear sunny day - I'm deadheading to Pueblo to pick up some steel at Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel. I'm in the right hand lane and notice a Subaru wagon slowly passing me. About the time their passenger door is even with the front bumper of my truck their front left tire falls off the edge of the asphalt and they jerk the wheel to get back over the hump - in the blink of an eye they are doing a 360 spin at about 70 mph. I hit my brakes hard and move over into the right shoulder. I can't move any further because this section of the road has guard rails on both sides of it. They hit the guard rail on the left which throws them back across both lanes and into the shoulder directly in front of me. Smoke is boiling off of my tires by now and all I can see is the top of the Subaru directly in front of me as I'm am about two coats of paint away from T-boning them. I steer hard to the left with my trailer going all squirrelly behind me hoping I can get around them when they hit the right hand guard rail and go scooting back across the road still just fractions of an inch in front of me. I steer hard back to the right hand shoulder and they hit the left guard rail, do a 180 and come to an abrupt stop hung up in the guard rail structure. This all took place in no more than three seconds max as far as I could tell.

Thank God we never actually made contact, and none of the cars and trucks behind us did either. It was nothing short of miraculous in my opinion. I got stopped and went to make sure they were okay. It was a little old lady who was a little disoriented from getting thrown all around in the spins, but she seemed to be unhurt. I stayed with her until the officer arrived and told my story to them and politely asked if I was free to move on as I had a schedule to meet. He let me go with little or no questions, thanked me for helping out, and told me to be safe out there.

After changing my pants, I got down on my knees and thanked God for helping me. I still don't really see how I avoided a complete tragedy. If you don't believe that angels can help you, after going through something like that you just might change your mind! It was like having a flashback of that video that Guyjax posted just the other day. It is incredible the responsibility we have to be on the alert for potential trouble. It can arise from out of nowhere fast!

Y'all keep it safe, and watch out for those little old ladies. They might not be the best drivers, but they don't deserve to be squashed by an eighteen wheeler.

Thank god you have the experience!

This could have been very bad! You did great Old School. Happy everyone is safe.

Now I have a question / comment. You said you got stopped and went and checked on the lady. Well according to the CDL manual, you must:

1. Protect the area. 2. Notify authorities. 3. Assist the injured.

You never mentioned protecting the area or notifying the authorities, mister!

All jokes aside.... really glad you are safe and undamaged (well the truck is undamaged).

Well...the cdl manual has that list in the wrong order...you park where you can, see to the injured, contact 911. You can direct traffic if you want...I for one, let someone else do that, I don't want the hassle of maybe gettin' run over....

1. Protect the area. 2. Notify authorities. 3. Assist the injured

I think they figure that for most people you're not going to be able to help the injured much unless you're a paramedic. So the idea is to first make sure there aren't going to be more people involved in the wreck by protecting the area. Once it's stable, get 911 immediately so the real paramedics can get there as quickly as possible. Then once the paramedics are on the way you can see if you can help the injured in any way.

But I believe they figure the time you take to run over and look for injured people is time better spent getting a call through to 911 first.

1. Protect the area. 2. Notify authorities. 3. Assist the injured

I think they figure that for most people you're not going to be able to help the injured much unless you're a paramedic. So the idea is to first make sure there aren't going to be more people involved in the wreck by protecting the area. Once it's stable, get 911 immediately so the real paramedics can get there as quickly as possible. Then once the paramedics are on the way you can see if you can help the injured in any way.

But I believe they figure the time you take to run over and look for injured people is time better spent getting a call through to 911 first.

Ummmmm.... I am actually a Paramedic. With that said, I was kidding around. That was not a serious post!

It's good to hear it all turned out well. A couple of years ago I was moving my daughter from Pueblo back to AZ. I was pulling her car behind the U-Haul when right outside of Santa Fe a 18 y/o girl jumped off a bridge right in front of a car in front of me. The car swerved and I swerved as she was laying legs on the road and head and torso on the shoulder. I pulled over and ran back to her and so did my daughter. I'm a registered nurse and my daughter a CNA..I had my daughter hold her neck and head in C-Spine and while we were first on the scene within seconds a off duty paramedic, a respirtory therapist and an off duty cop arrived. The cop got the traffic under control while we treated her as best we could without any medical equipment. The paramedics/ambulance showed up after about 5 min, and the girl was awake and oriented. I don't know how it all turned out for her, but apparently she was being transported to a mental hospital when she told the van driver that she was going to throw up and for him to pull over, she got out of the van and ran back on the bridge and jumped off. It was amazing how many medical professionals happened to be there as well as law enforcement. I told her.."someone didn't want you dying today".