Mum's horror as metal chunk smashes her windscreen on 100km/h freeway
Shocking dash cam footage has surfaced, showing the moment where a metal pole smashes a mum’s windscreen on a freeway while her newborn baby sits in the back seat of the car.
The mother, who is a Melbourne tram driver by trade, said that her tram driving experience gave her the reflexes and instinct to stay calm during the incident.
On Thursday, August 2 at about 10.55am, 31-year-old mum Kahla Butler was driving towards Melbourne on the Monash Freeway, between the Ernst Wanke Road and Belgrave Hallam Road exits in Narre Warren. Her newborn baby girl, Zoey, was resting peacefully in the back seat.
She was driving behind a truck, when out of nowhere, a metal pole hurtles towards her windscreen, smashing through the glass and shattering the entire screen.
Ms Butler told Yahoo7 that the metal pole came through the window, bounced off the centre of the passenger seat head rest and lodged into the footwell.
Immediately after the pole destroys the windscreen, the woman cries out in fear. Miraculously, both the mother and 3-week-old baby were unharmed.
Ms Butler posted the video to Facebook on Friday night, urging witnesses to come forward.
“I’m looking for anyone who witnessed my “accident”,” she posted.
While she captured the incident on her dash cam, the truck’s number plate was not visible due to poor camera quality.
“I need to figure out the trucks details so I can tell my insurance company,”
“All I know is that it’s a big truck carrying logs,” she said.
Victoria Police confirmed that they are currently investigating the circumstances of the collision.
“Police are currently investigating after a car was struck by a piece of steel on the Monash Freeway in Narre Warren on 2 August,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman told Yahoo7.
“It’s believed the city-bound car was travelling behind a semi-trailer when pieces of the trailer’s suspension came away and collided with the victim’s car just before 11am,”
“The piece of steel hit the bonnet of the car and punctured the windscreen, coming to rest inside the car,” the spokeswoman said.
Ms Butler, who is a tram driver by trade, thinks that her tram driving skills helped her to remain calm when the accident happened.
“I’m pretty sure that would have helped me react the way I did,” Ms Butler said.
“I suppose cause I drive eight hours a day five days a week, I think it helped me be more aware of the situation going on and how to react and how to react calmly,” she said.
As Ms Butler pulled over onto the side of the road after the accident, it turned out that an undercover police car had been behind her when the accident happened. The undercover police waited with Ms Butler until the highway patrol and her mother came to assess the situation.
“They were quite calming to have there, it was just pure luck that happened too,” she said.
Police are meeting the truck driver today and will continue their investigations.
“Police are speaking with the truck driver today and the truck will be inspected in due course,”
“No offence has been committed during this incident so there will be no charges laid against the driver,” the spokeswoman confirmed.
