I was suddenly rendered extremely thankful last Friday afternoon.
While cautiously driving southbound on Interstate 35 Friday afternoon in heavily-falling snow, a northbound 15-ton, jack-knifing semi, careened sideways across the median towards me in the southbound lanes.
Time surreally stood still, giving me a good look at the nice shiny black tractor trailer as it bumpily skidded closer and closer in slow motion. (I learned later that the slow-motion thing is due to an adrenalin rush.)
There was a HUGE thud and I gasped.
Here’s a video that sort of gives my perspective, although it was daylight in my case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zceAos5L8
After the thud, the sudden darkness in the van and no visibility let me know I'd been hit by the mud the semi was skidding up on his way towards me.
I was able to keep control of the van, regain visibility, and discern that I and the car seemed to be intact. I decided not to stop since I knew there was traffic behind me and stopping or slowing might cause a pile-up.
As soon as I'd realized what had just happened, or almost happened, I had to call someone to tell them I was alive. I got hold of a rather bewildered son-in-law, Sean, who with Laurie and the boys, was on his way to Rochester on I-35 north, with no snow at all.
It was so slippery that by the time I finally got to our gravel road I barely made it up that first steep hill. Steve finally got home that evening and said the semi was still in the median (too dangerous to move it until it stopped snowing) and that he never would have guessed it was originally northbound, since it had swung completely around facing south. He saw no evidence of any vehicles the semi might've hit.
A couple days later I took this picture of the ruts, (from a conveniently placed Hwy. 5 exit overpass) curious about how close a call it had really been.
White arrow- where the semi left the road
While cautiously driving southbound on Interstate 35 Friday afternoon in heavily-falling snow, a northbound 15-ton, jack-knifing semi, careened sideways across the median towards me in the southbound lanes.
Time surreally stood still, giving me a good look at the nice shiny black tractor trailer as it bumpily skidded closer and closer in slow motion. (I learned later that the slow-motion thing is due to an adrenalin rush.)
There was a HUGE thud and I gasped.
Here’s a video that sort of gives my perspective, although it was daylight in my case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zceAos5L8
After the thud, the sudden darkness in the van and no visibility let me know I'd been hit by the mud the semi was skidding up on his way towards me.
I was able to keep control of the van, regain visibility, and discern that I and the car seemed to be intact. I decided not to stop since I knew there was traffic behind me and stopping or slowing might cause a pile-up.
As soon as I'd realized what had just happened, or almost happened, I had to call someone to tell them I was alive. I got hold of a rather bewildered son-in-law, Sean, who with Laurie and the boys, was on his way to Rochester on I-35 north, with no snow at all.
It was so slippery that by the time I finally got to our gravel road I barely made it up that first steep hill. Steve finally got home that evening and said the semi was still in the median (too dangerous to move it until it stopped snowing) and that he never would have guessed it was originally northbound, since it had swung completely around facing south. He saw no evidence of any vehicles the semi might've hit.
A couple days later I took this picture of the ruts, (from a conveniently placed Hwy. 5 exit overpass) curious about how close a call it had really been.
White arrow- where the semi left the road
Arrow- direction of mud skidded up on my van by his dual wheels
X- where the end of the (empty) trailer started out
Arc- where back of trailor may have traveled (into the area I'd recented vacated)
Arrow- direction the cab ended up facing
Arc- where back of trailor may have traveled (into the area I'd recented vacated)
Arrow- direction the cab ended up facing
You can see the V-shaped rut- the jackknife (between the X and arrow). The ruts closer to the foreground are probably wrecker tracks.
I called the West Des Moines Police Department to get an accident report. They said there were so many accidents that afternoon, that most were only logged, not 'cased', so I don't know what happened to the semi or driver.
So, how close a call was it?
Close enough to be rendered extremely thankful.
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