Heather and I were going to Castle Rock (I was driving) and the speed limit on our freeway here is 75mph. I noticed something across the dashed line in my lane and commented that whatever that was, I did NOT want to run over it! Right about that same time, I was starting to mention that I smelled burning rubber when the mustang ahead of us in the left hand lane had a tire blowout. She was trying to slow down when the car spun out. What happened next was nothing short of miraculous as I was able to avoid her shredding tire… and her… and all the other cars around us. Fortunately we were not packed in like sardines and everyone was able to navigate around her as she spun out from the far left lane, across all four lanes of traffic (going 75mph) and came to a halt facing the wrong direction on the shoulder against the guardrail.
I pulled over just past her (and so did another witness). I called 911. Although she was on the shoulder, it was narrowing to become an exit ramp and she was facing the wrong way in traffic. While I was on the phone with the Safety Patrol, I was able to see that they were trying to get out of the car and that yet another vehicle had stopped behind them to protect them from traffic. They ended up getting in that vehicle.
Since Heather and I were actually past them, we could not drive back to assist, nor would it have been safe for us to get out of the car. When they got in the 3rd vehicle, we knew they were at least safe and I felt comfortable leaving.
NEEDLESS TO SAY…. WHEW! That got our hearts pumping!
One Year Ago 08/10/2010: http://blog.scottsontherocks.com/blog/2010/08/10/richer-or-broker/
