DRIVER RESCUES FRIGHTENED YOUNG DRIVER AFTER SHE SKIDS OFF ROADWAY

07/09/2020
Alexandria, Virginia

The Truckload Carriers Association has named David Hill, from Belleville, Ontario, a Highway Angel, for rushing to help after a young driver hits black ice and skids off the road.

January 30 found David Hill on I-29, just north of Fargo, North Dakota. He was coming from Winnipeg, bound for the southern end of Wisconsin. “There was some ice on the roads, so I was only going about 55 mph, under the speed limit,” he recalled. “I was taking my time, cruising along. I saw a car come up beside me. She wasn’t speeding, but as she changed lanes to come back into the right lane, she hit a patch of black ice in the center of the road.” Hill slowed and watched as the car was thrown toward a snowbank on the right. “She flew through it like a tornado,” he said, “and went about 100 yards off the road into a field.” The car spun out and ended up on its driver’s side. “I stopped and bailed out of my truck in my running shoes and went barreling through snow up to my knees.” When he got to the car, he found that the passenger side door nearly ripped off the car.

Hill says the driver was a 16-year-old young woman. “She was scared pretty good and screaming for help. I told her I was there.” He climbed up on the vehicle and stood on the windshield wipers. “She was laying there against the driver’s door, covered in snow. She was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans, the kind with holes all over them.” Hill jumped down into the back seat, calmed the young woman, unbuckled her, and helped her from the vehicle. “I grabbed her coat from the back seat and we found her boots that had flown out of the car and she put those on. It was pretty cold, below zero. I got her back to my truck and kept her warm until the State Troopers got there. She wasn’t hurt, only a couple bumps on her head and some scrapes on one arm.” She told Hill she was on her way to work. “Being 16 years old, a crash like that, she was lucky,” he said.

For his willingness to assist a fellow driver, TCA has presented Hill with a certificate, patch, lapel pin, and truck decals. His employer has also received a certificate acknowledging their driver as a Highway Angel.

Since the program’s inception in August 1997, more than 1,250 drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for the exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage they have displayed while on the job. EpicVue sponsors TCA’s Highway Angel program.