I decided to take a road trip today to Hemmings Motor News car museum. I live in southern NH and the museum is in the south west corner of Vermont. The drive is about 100 miles from where I live and it is almost all 2 lane roadway except for a short about 4 mile section of interstate in Vermont. Once entering Vermont the road is much more interesting with lots of twisties and up and downs.

Well after visiting the museum and grabbing a bite to eat I headed back toward home. About 10 miles east of the museum there is a long uphile grade of about 5 miles. Near the bottom of the grade a Dodge Dakota pickup passed me. I continued up the grade following about 500' or so behind him. When we reached the top of the grade there was short flat section with gradual turns. On the left was this gravel pull off area, kind of like a rest area without services. Well the Dakota was vearing off to the left and it was looking like he was going to pull into the gravel area, there was slight turn to the right in the road at that point. I could not believe what happened next he wasn't pulling into the gravel area at all as he must of fallen asleep and went straight into the woods at over 50 mph. The truck went past the gravel entrance into a ditch and shot up into the air about 5 feet and came to a stop! I immediately pulled over and ran across the street. The husband was driving and the wife was beside him. By the time I got to the truck their daughter was outside of the truck. Amazingly none of them seemed seriously hurt so I flagged down traffic to call the police. Believe or not I don't even own a cell phone. Quite a few people stopped and were quite helpful. We waited around for the police to show up which was over 40 minutes believe it or not.

Sorry for such a long story but I have never seen anything like this. This could of been much more serious if there was oncoming traffic. This truck had serious damage. The front end was totally smashed in, there were black plastic parts all over the place, the windshield was smashed really bad and both air bags went off. The ditch they went through was atleast 6 ft deep and they hit a tree at the top of the ditch. The truck was stopped right after the ditch, I never saw any brake lights. From where the ditch started to where the truck sat was no more than 60 ft. They all went to a hospital in the ambulance.

 

*Hat tip*.
Good samaritans are appreciated. Thank goodness nobody was coming when he crossed the left lane.

 

Dang! That's pretty serious. They're lucky you where there to get them some help.

 

I hate to say this but I was afraid something happened to your new OB MINI!!!

What a surreal thing to see!!! I had to scramble once to help a lady whose Mustang went off the road and down a steep ravine. I didn't see it happen though, just got flagged down by another lady who did see it. You couldn't even see the car from the road...glad somebody saw her!!

 

Thanks for the concern. The only thing that happened to the OB mini was a car full of bugs for the ride home because I left the windows down.

 

Thanks for your assistance to those folks in their time of need! That is true motoring.

 

Wish there were more like you out on our highways! Good going!
Jim

 

Thanks to people like you - who are willing to stop and make sure everything is okay. We need MORE people like you in the world - good job!!

Donna

 

Glad to hear there are people like you out there DanF. I live in NH as well and have done some motoring in VT.

Where exactly is this museum as I would love to check it out?

Was the accident on Rt 9? I have seen my fair share on that road and had to stop on Thanksgiving night in a snow storm a couple of years ago because someone hit a bear and destroyed their car. It was coming down off Hogback mountain.

 

What a story! We definitely need more people like you!!!! It reminds me of something that happened to me about 5 years ago. It was raining really bad and the Eclipse I drove at the time hydroplaned on the highway and I ended up in a ditch after about 2 360's or what felt like it. Amazingly, nothing happened to the car or myself. However, point of the story is only one person stopped and although I was fine, there was a lot of traffic and if I would've needed help, I think I would've struggled to find it.

So...I really appreciate this story! Glad everyone was fine and thanks for being a Good Samaritan

 

Wow, in California you are legally required to stop and give assistance, if you witness an accident. Not true in other states?

 

What a horrendous thing to witness! So glad someone like you was there to offer assistance! Something like that happened to my dad two years ago. He had just gotten a new Harley (he's a motorcycle fanatic), and was driving a really rural mountain road, just approaching the pass, when he left the road off the right hand side at 60mph! His bike had been on cruise control, and he blacked out. (Later told it was probably a mini-stroke???) Anyway, he went out 60', and down about 40' before his bike hit a fence. He doesnt remember anything except waking up with a bunch of coyboys standing over him telling him to keep calm. Then he wakes up in the hospital! We went out to find out that his bike hit, and being the **** person he is, he folded his gloves and placed them into the helmet, and placed them on top of his folded jacket on the bike. He had to have 9,000.00 worth of reconstructive surgery on his face, took several months to recover, and well, they took everything off of the frame of the bike, and rebuilt it-frame up, rather than total it. If it hadnt been for those guys that were moving cattle, who knows what could have happened!
Thanks for stopping. Oh, yeah, and I really have no idea if it is legally required in this state, we just always stop if we see someone needing assistance!

 

Interesting...I didn't know this. There is generally no duty to assist someone, but the duty will arise if you begin the rescue and then quit midway. Some states have Good Samaritan laws so I guess California is one of them.

 

The accident was on Rte. 9. It was between Bennington and Rte. 100 at the top of the hill. Luckily in this case everyone escaped with minor injuries.

The museum is just west of Bennington center right on Rte. 9. You will see a gas station in front, right side of the road. This is also where Hemmings Motor news is published. Here is the link: http://www.hemmings.com/. This is a very low key museum. No pristine floors and the man running the place let a kid sit in one of the cars for pictures. There are about 20 or so cars inside and some scattered about out in the parking lot. Another bonus the museum is free.

Another local free thing is a car meet at the Target parking lot on Rte 101A in Nashua on friday night. I checked it out last friday and it was pretty cool lots of old cars hotrods etc. It's a fun way to start a weekend.

 

good job my fellow o2b!!! way to represent!!

 

SOunds cool. I work right on 101A so I might have to check it out sometime.

 

Once in a while I hear about a car found at the bottom of a ravine, days after it happened. Good thing you stopped.
The thought of that truck hitting someone head-on is scarey. Also a good idea to not follow closely.

 

I have heard that it is the law in Indiana to stop for an auto accident to assist someone. I also heard someone say once that you could be liable for not stopping if there was a serious injury, sounds a little iffy to me.

 

It happened to my grandparents when my grandfather had a stroke at the wheel, crashed through a guard rail, and went down the side of a mountain--with no witnesses. A boy walking home from school 8 hours later saw the car, with the windshield wipers going, and told his mother. My grandmother survived, but sadly, my grandfather died of the stroke...