A vehicle narrowly avoided slamming into a driver on the side of an Ohio highway Monday, video released by the state Department of Transportation shows.
The motorist was standing along Columbus’ I-670 adjacent to his vehicle, which was parallel to the road after seemingly striking the highway divider.
Video then shows a sedan careening toward the driver and his vehicle. The man, noticing the oncoming vehicle, hoists himself onto the highway median at the last second. The oncoming vehicle then smashes into his SUV, the footage shows.
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According to a 911 call obtained by local news outlet ABC6, the SUV had a passenger in it at the time of impact.
The passenger told 911 operators that their vehicle had lost a tire and hit the highway divider before the crash.
“It’s off to the side but we are right in the turnstile, and it’s really worrying me because we’re going to get hit,” the passenger told operators, according to ABC6.
Digital contacted the Ohio Department of Transportation for updates on the conditions of the passengers involved.
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A department spokesman highlighted the incident as a safety lesson, noting that the lane the impacted vehicle was in was closed and should not have had any other cars driving in it.
“There will be a green arrow over it if it’s opened, a red X if it is closed. In this case, it was an emergency shoulder, so the person who crashed was stopped on the shoulder of the highway. They were doing the right thing. There should be nobody driving in that lane,” Ohio Department of Transportation press secretary Matt Bruning told reporters.
The emergency lane, Bruning explained to Digital, was a “SmartLane,” a highway feature in Ohio that allows the state to convert the wide shoulder into a temporary travel lane as needed. The SmartLane was closed at the time of the crash.
“Don’t drive in a closed lane. If you are going to drive on the highway, allow that extra space between you and the vehicle in front of you so you have time to react and space to react if something might happen,” Bruning concluded.
