I was driving in a snowstorm, (dumb but necessary), on a four lane.
Driving 45 mph was about as safe as it got. Doing fine just schlepping
along in the right lane as it was clear with lightly blowing snow and
only 50 miles to go. Left lane was 100% snow and ice packed. Well, a
semi decided all of us were going too slow so he passed on the left at
approximately 75 mph. This created a white out condition. Also sprayed
the windshield. I couldn't see past the windshield. Kind of like driving
with my eyes closed. I was going to stop but saw faint headlights coming
up on my tail so I just slowed to 15 mph and tapped brakes in hopes the
guy behind me would see the brake lights. We went a few hundred feet
like that when, as the white out started to clear I saw about 500 feet
in front of me a large white object. The semi had changed back to the
right lane and had stopped. I put on the brakes. Nothing. It didn't even
slow me down. As we approached the rear of the trailer I decided to
change lanes. Common sense and plenty of time right. Huh uh! As I turned
to the left, no response. I turned a little more and the response was
the truck began to go sideways. Not wanting to kill my daughter, wife
and granddaughter by hitting to trailer sideways, I turned back to the
right, yelled, "Hang on! Here we go! Oh Shit!" and watched as we sledded
right into the dock lock bar on the trailer. Boom! Air bags deployed and
the horns went nuts. My daughter was in the passenger front, wife and
granddaughter were in the back of the club cab. My daughter had what
appeared to be like rug burns on the left side of her face, apparently
from the airbag but other that that only minor bruises from the jolt.
After checking that everyone was ok, I left the cab, lifted the hood,
(it still opens and closes and fully latches), Cut the horn wires and
watched as the coolant spread in the snow. The headlights were broken,
the fenders and hood were bent up, but what disabled the truck was the
top of the bumper was rolled back into the radiator and busted it. If
not for the radiator the truck would have still been drivable. As it
was, we were 50 miles from home and I wasn't going to ask anybody to get
out in that weather to come get us. I guess everybody felt sorry for us
as it was getting dark and the police attributed the accident to poor
road conditions. The semi driver did seem to be upset that he was now
going to be drug and alcohol tested. Anyway, they took my daughter, wife
and granddaughter to the hospital to be checked out and left me standing
on the side of the road waiting for the tow company. After they got
there, the police chief gave me a ride to the hospital. No injuries
fortunately and the hospital got us a room in a local motel, paid for
it, fed us for free and hauled us to the motel. Very nice of them. Boone
Iowa has great people. And the tow company didn't charge for the tow
from the scene or overnite storage. And they only charged $200.00 to
haul the truck on a flatbed to my house over 50 miles away.
After surveying the damage, I think that it will be drivable with a new
radiator even though I want all the damage fixed. With only liability
and no fault assigned, I'll have to pay for it myself. Guess it'll have
to wait till spring.
I just thank God no one was hurt and thank the emergency services people
in Boone Iowa.
I still can't believe how far we slid at only 15mph. It took forever and
now seems to be slow motion. Seemed like an hour between the time I saw
the trailer and the time I hit it.
Thanks for letting me vent.
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