Lumber Falls Off Truck on Overpass and Strikes Car Below in ‘Life-or-Death Situation’

"It was pretty scary. It was highway speeds that these chunks of woods were flying at," a witness in Pennsylvania recalled

Kimberlee Speakman
·2-min read
Getty Semi-trailer truck transporting wood timber in Utah.

Getty

Semi-trailer truck transporting wood timber in Utah.

Drivers got quite a scare while commuting along a Pennsylvania highway.

Dashcam footage captured by Derek Gooderham showed the aftermath after a tractor-trailer carrying lumber overturned on an overpass in Harrisburg, Penn. and sent lumber cascading down onto a highway below on Tuesday, Dec. 3, according to WHP-TV, WGAL-TV and USA Today.

In a Storyful video shared by CBS News, a few cars could be seen driving under an overpass before dozens of lumber pieces began rolling down a hill and hit a white car on the far right lane. The car could be seen trying to break to avoid the debris to no avail.

The force of the lumber appeared to push the white car to the far left, off the highway and into a tree. A pickup truck sped up to avoid the debris and was able to drive safely away.

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CBS News noted that “no one was injured in the incident.”

Related: The Mini Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Rolls Over During Highway Car Crash

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the incident.

The department told WHP-TV that the truck overturned on a ramp from Interstate-81 south, which sent construction material rolling onto the I-83 north around 5 p.m. Following the crash, the ramp from I-83 north to I-81 south was closed for around five hours as crews removed the debris. The highway reopened around 10:30 p.m.

Getty A truck transporting wood on a highway (stock image)

Getty

A truck transporting wood on a highway (stock image)

Related: Bystanders Rescue Man Trapped in Burning Car After Minnesota Highway Crash: 'Glad He Got Out in Time'

Gooderham told Storyful, per USA Today, that he believed it was “an avalanche of 2x4s and 2x12s” — or building materials — that covered “the highway.” He also noted to WGAL-TV that the incident “will probably be the scariest thing that I have seen so far in my life."

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"I hope there's nothing that tops that, but it was pretty scary,” Gooderham recalled. “It was highway speeds that these chunks of woods were flying at. And honestly, I've never been put in a life-or-death situation like that.”

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“So yeah, I'm still kind of going on about what to think about it and everything like that,” he added. “So I'm really still in shock about it because it really was pretty much life or death."

CBS News noted that “no one was injured in the incident.”

Read the original article on People

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