A woman in Bellevue, Washington is lucky to be alive today after an out-of-control dump truck lost its brakes on a hill, careened through a red light, and smashed into her early-’90s Honda Accord as she crossed the intersection, sending them both flying into the woods.
Local police told KOMO News that the dump truck was headed north on Forest Drive yesterday and traveling down a 15 percent grade when its brakes failed. The driver managed to navigate a fairly sharp curve near the bottom of the hill, but the road ends in a T-intersection, and his path sent the truck straight into cross traffic on Coal Creek Parkway.
The unlucky Accord driver was traveling on the far side in the middle lane, and it’s likely that stopped traffic in the left turn lane prevented her from seeing the truck until it was too late. It struck the Accord full-on and sent the car spinning into roadside bushes, while the dump truck itself came to rest further in the woods.
The video also shows an impressive panic stop from a Chevrolet Suburban traveling right behind the Accord, as well as other drivers stopping to assist. The woman escaped with what police describe as minor injuries—one YouTube commenter claims she’s a friend of the driver and that she suffered cuts, bruises, and a broken foot—and the dump truck driver was uninjured.
Considering the weight disparity between the Accord and the truck, it’s amazing she wasn’t seriously injured. Chalk it up to both Honda’s impressive safety bonafides and plain old luck.
