Trucker Named Highway Angel for Aiding Multiple Crash Victims on Rainy Highway

08/04/2023
Alexandria, Virginia

ALEXANDRIA, VA—The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named truck driver Timothy Olden, from North Chesterfield, VA, a Highway Angel for stopping to help crash victims when their car was hit by a pickup truck on a rainy afternoon. Olden drives for Decker Truck Lines out of Fort Dodge, IA.

It’s an incredible story: On July 20, 2023, Olden was driving near Stratton, CO on I-70 around 2 p.m. He came up on an accident just after it happened, where a car crossed over a median and was T-boned by a pickup truck pulling a camper. Olden quickly pulled over and jumped out to help everyone that was potentially injured, grabbing his fire extinguisher because he could see the crashed car was smoking.

“The car was smoking and everybody was still inside,” Olden said. “On the passenger side you couldn’t even get the doors open— they were caved in.”

He and a flatbed driver from another company helped safely remove the passengers from the smoking vehicles.

“We had to break the rear window out to unlock it so we could get the front door unlocked,” Olden said. Inside the car were lawn chairs, so he made sure they grabbed the chairs out of the car and set them up so the crash victims would have somewhere to sit off the road, as it rained profusely.

Olden stayed until the emergency vehicles departed, cleaned up debris on the road, and set off on his way. When asked why he did so much, he claims he was just doing his job.

Since the program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,300 professional truck drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job. Thanks to the program’s presenting sponsor, EpicVue, and supporting sponsor, DriverFacts, TCA is able to showcase outstanding drivers like Mr. Olden.