Tuesday, Dec. 4, shortly before 4:00 p.m. on PR 542 near Elkhorn, a two-car accident at an intersection could have been deadly.
Injuries were not life threatening, but sent one person to hospital.
Mark Humphries was driving home from teaching at Boundary Lane Colony School. Three or four kilometres from his home, approaching a blind intersection on the Provincial Road it all happened in a split second he says.
Humphries had just turned off the Colony road and wasn’t going very fast. He said as he approached the intersection, to his horror, a vehicle was approaching at full-speed, headed for his driver’s side.
“If I’d had a clear vision to the left, seen the vehicle speeding through, that would have given me more time to slow down.”
He slammed on his brakes and attempted to steer his skidding car to the right to avoid a high-speed crash with the oncoming GMC 4 x 4.
The front of his Jeep SUV caught the other vehicle. Both vehicles went into a spin.
Humphries braced for the next possible impact, with his foot jammed down on the brake.
His airbags went off and he hit the ditch.
“The car was full of smoke. I thought I was on fire.” He managed to exit through the passenger door and finding he was all in one piece, he ran over to the other vehicle.
The female driver was bleeding; her nose was badly damaged. Her car was lodged against a pole. She was dazed, but told Humphries she had not seen the stop sign.
With a towel applied to her torn nose to stop the bleeding, he helped her into the back seat of her vehicle.
Her OnStar crash assistance had been triggered to dispatch emergency help.
People, workers in the area, came upon the scene and were helpful.
In the mean time the Elkhorn and Virden fire departments were on the scene as well as the RCMP.
The woman was taken via ambulance to hospital and Humphries has since received notice that she is out of hospital.
Humphries is shaken by the accident, but counting his blessings. Physically, he merely sustained bad bruising.
Of this lonely patch of road he said, “What’s the chances of you driving down a rural road and finding a car, at that exact same moment, to hit?”
RCMP Staff Sergeant Frizzley said intersection collisions are one of the highest causes of fatality collisions on Manitoba roadways, with the exception of impaired driving and distracted driving.
Charges are pending against the female driver at this point.
Frizzley said, “As police, we are always a little worried as to what we will encounter when we arrive on the scene of an intersection collision such as this one.”
He urges drivers to have a cautious mindset.
“When you are waiting on a red light and it turns green, take that second to look before proceeding. Don't assume that green light for you will protect you from other drivers that might be running their red. I see it quite often out on the # 1 highway, take that extra second.”
