Truck 1 Minivan 0 – No major injuries.

Saturday afternoon the kids and I were headed home from a swim meet through white-out conditions. Not unusual for Erie at this time of year. We know to take it really easy, take lots of time and just stop until the wind passes. We were nearly home and taking it really slow when we came around a down hill corner and faced off against a tractor trailer (just the cab, no trailer attached). He was also coming down hill on a S-curve and started sliding into my lane.

Both the truck and I did everything we could to avoid the accident, just we were both headed down hill, on an S-curve both ways and it was wicked slippery out. I pulled as far left as I could and he corrected as far right as he could. The road was just too narrow.

We were truly blessed that it was a slow speed impact, any faster and he probably would have pushed us over the rail. As it was, we ended up pinned between the truck and the guard rail and got the kids out through the windows that had smashed during the accident. What you can't really see in this picture is that the drop off from the guard rail on the driver's side is about 30-40 feet straight down. Thank God for strong guard rails.


I (Joyce) was driving. Elise was in the passenger front seat and ended up with the side view mirror in her lap. She has some minor cuts to her hands as she put them up to shield her face from the glass (smart girl). Declan was in the passenger middle seat and took the most impact. He ended up with a gash along his right cheek from the flying glass. No stitches, but it will take awhile to heal. Liam (and a friend) were in the back seat far corner and walked away with no injuries. Erin was not with us at the time. Everyone was fully belted in and I’m so proud to say, none of them panicked. We are all feeling quite bumped around today but not really any worse for wear.

The tow truck guy says the van is totaled. The kids were bummed because we just got this van in August. I personally could care less. I know that tomorrow I will have to deal only having one car and trying to figure out how to get the kids to all their activities and such until we get an new van, but today I’m just truly thankful that we are all ok. - J

P.S. There are also pictures at http://www.velocity.net/~danb/vancrash.htm