Well the period when I was actually driving to Wagga Wagga was uneventful. I had the complete series of “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” to listen to on my iPod, I had a roll of peppermints in the glove box & I had an open highway and a 110kph speedlimit for almost the whole way. The excitement actually happened while I was parked at a set of lights, waiting to turn left onto the Hume Highway.
I had just gotten my krispy Kreme doughnuts for my sister Amy & was waiting at the lights. Three cars were waiting to turn across the highway into the street I had come from & when there was a small break in traffic, the first two decided to do just that. They crossed uneventfully, but then the third car, the driver of which was an old gentleman, must have supposed that they had a green light, not just a break in traffic, so he decided to follow the other two cars.
Meanwhile, I am sitting in my car and thinking that the driver of the third car is an idiot, because he appears to be one of the people who rolls out halfway into the first lane while he waits for the truck in the left lane to pass. As it turns out, I was wrong. he is the kind of driver that drives into the side of a truck that is doing 70kph…
In the space of about 3 seconds, the fairlane hit the side of the truck, its bonnet going under its tray before the back wheels of the truck hit it. Here is where size matters. As it happened, this was a 5 tonne truck carrying nothing in the rear hold. This meant that the the wheels pretty much destroyed the bonnet, but it also bounced the truck up and into a spin, which flipped the truck onto its side, where it lay to rest after smashing through a metal street pole.
I sat, not 5 meters away, amazed at what I had seen. 5 or so seconds later, having digested the information, I jumped out & made a quick survey. No fuel was leaking from either vehicle, so I first checked the fairlane, the passengers of which seemed to be moving out by themselves. I then rounded the tipped truck & found the driver trapped inside the cab, but essentially unhurt. I climbed the bullbar of the truck & helped the driver exit the vehicle.
As it turns out, the fairlane had an old gentleman, his wife and two grandaughters in his car. Had the truck being carrying a load, or had it been any larger, it would have ploughed straight through him instread of mostly bouncing over him. Had this happened, it of course would have been a tradgedy. As it stands, it is just an interesting story I get to tell on my blog & two grandkids tell about getting their first precautionary ride in an ambulance.
A great reminder of the urgency of the gospel. The decision that you could make today can be the one you wish you had tomorrow….
In other news, Bethany is a beautiful baby. There will be pictures following shortly!
60 odd hours till I am in the air…
Tim Goldsmith 