No time to react in a crash

By Howard Reece

On a grey, overcast August morning a few years ago as I was traveling to work at dawn I was surprised when, from out of nowhere, a deer suddenly appeared in front of my car, slightly to the right side. My instant reaction was to swerve to my left to try to miss the deer. I understand that the appropriate reaction when confronting an animal on the road is to slow down and stay in my lane, but I swerved nonetheless. As quick as I swerved, the passenger side window on my car exploded getting glass all over the interior of my car. 

Traveling 55 mph, this all happened faster than you can say “deer/swerve/boom (window exploding),” because it did happen that fast.  I immediately pulled over to assess the damages.  I apparently hit the deer with my right-side rearview mirror when I swerved, breaking it off and slamming the mirror into the passenger side window, causing the window to explode.  The mirror was dangling from the door by the electrical wires which were still attached to both. 

The deer apparently survived because I never did see it again, and I did look for it.  I’m certain that the mirror hit the deer in the head because it was facing that direction when I saw it in front of my car, and it would not have had time to change course.

I always wear my seat belt, so that was not an issue in this instance, nor was it needed to keep me restrained.  But this story makes me think of how fast things can happen on the highway and of another time on Oct.  23, 2007, when a situation occurred as fast, if not faster, and much more harrowing.

On this day at 1:45 p.m., I was southbound on K-232 about one mile west of the Wilson Lake dam.  The highway curves back to the east here and goes over the dam.  At this point also is the intersection of Russell County Road # 203, which comes up from the south and hooks into K-232, mid-curve.  It was a beautiful, bright, clear fall afternoon and was a very pleasant ride. 

Suddenly, an on-coming pickup pulling a trailer, both loaded with sandblasting and painting equipment and materials is turning right in front of me to go south on the county road.  The operator of the pickup was in the business of painting water towers for rural water districts and was looking back to the south at the road he was getting ready to go down. 

This time there was no time to react.  I was driving 65 mph and I do clearly remember choosing to close my eyes (because I did not want to see what was about to happen) and attempting to hit the brake pedal which was more of a reactionary act, but an act of futility none-the-less.  I cannot express accurately just how quickly this occurred.  There was no time to swerve!

After the dust had settled, I found myself sitting in my little state-owned SUV, all in one piece, and very much alive.  After a few seconds of collecting my thoughts I picked up my cell phone and called the KHP Dispatch, who I had programmed into my phone and told them what had just happened.  I then got out to survey the situation. 

The right front quarter panel of my vehicle impacted the pickup on its right rear quarter panel, separating the pickup from the trailer and spinning the pickup three quarters of a turn, with all of it ending up off the highway.  From what I can determine, that was the “softest” spot I could have impacted.  If I would have hit the front corner of the pickup or the front corner of the trailer it would have been a different story.  As heavy as the three-quarter ton pickup and trailer were, along with all of the weight of the supplies on-board, it’s amazing to think of how bad it could have been.

The airbag deployed in my SUV, but the only contact I had with it was on the inside of my forearms from where I was holding the steering wheel at the 3:00/9:00 position.  I could tell this by the small grid-like woven red marks on my forearms.

The hand of a Mighty God and my seat belt kept me firmly in my seat.  Thus, I am here to share this story with you today.  And, I suggest you never go anywhere without your seat belt on either.

Howard Reece is a Highway Maintenance Superintendent at the Salina KDOT office.