Clarenville woman narrowly escapes from flying highway debris
Debbie Hynes of Clarenville is still shaken after being nearly decapitated by a piece of wood on the highway last week. She and her husband, Richard Hynes, were headed for the Thorburn golf resort on July 22.
It was 6 p.m., and they were the lead car in a line of traffic approaching Thorburn Lake at Lakeside Park. A transport truck was coming toward them, heading east.
The couple noticed debris on the road and began to slow down as they approached it. It was pieces of wood.
They were still doing close to 90 km/h when the transport truck hit a piece of 2 x 4, sending it careening at the Hynes’s vehicle. It hit the bug guard of their SUV and dented the hood and the windshield.
Debbie said the 2 x 4 would have killed her had it come through the windshield.
“All I remember was all this glass raining down on me; all these shards of glass just sticking to my arms and face. I don’t know what kind of film they use in safety glass to prevent them from disintegrating, but it saved my life,” she said.
Richard stopped on the side of the road as they surveyed the damage and tried to process what had just happened.
“Richard pulled over and all the traffic that was eastbound kept on going,” Debbie said.
“I think the transport truck was oblivious to what happened, but in no way can I hold him responsible. He had the weight and momentum to send it flying. Maybe if a passenger car had gone over it, what happened wouldn’t have happened.”
A nurse from Grand Prairie, Alta., travelling in the vehicle behind them, pulled over to make sure they were OK.
“We were standing on the side of the road trying to brush the glass off us without cutting ourselves,” said Debbie.
“I think, Rick was more in shock than I was. He kept saying, ‘I can’t believe you’re OK.’”
It was a huge scare, but the shock of how close she came to losing her life didn’t really set in until the next morning. The couple figured if they had not been in the exact wrong place at the wrong time, the 2 x 4 would have just sailed across the road and into the ditch.
“It made me realize that my time is not up on this Earth,” Debbie said.
She thinks someone was travelling to a landfill and lost debris en route.
“They either didn’t know they lost it or didn’t have conscience enough to move it to the side of the road. It was definitely a hazard, and where it was there was only two lanes of traffic so there was no way you could pull over into a slow lane to avoid it,” she said.
Staff Sgt. Bill Dwyer of the Clarenville RCMP said motorists should always make sure their load is secured on their vehicle.
“If it’s not secure and you lose it, you could be held responsible civilly or criminally.”