Woman almost killed as wooden post flies through windscreen
A woman had a lucky escape after she was almost killed by a large wooden stake on her way to work.
Bianca Garcia Camargo was driving along the M1 between Brisbane and the Gold Coast on April 30 in a 100km/h speed zone when the stake came loose from a truck travelling in front of her.
The 28-year-old Brazilian national said she was lucky to be alive after the stake smashed through her windscreen and missed her by 60 centimetres.
“I was surprised by the fact that a massive piece of wood fell from the back of a trailer of a truck, which was some metres ahead of me,” she said.
“The event was so rapid that I did not have much time to react.
“I quickly look to both of my sides to see if I would be able to divert from this massive and
dangerous piece of wood, but I saw that if I moved my car rapidly I would certainly hit other
cars at the same speed and would cause a massive incident.”
Ms Garcia Camargo said she was “emotionally frozen” and continued driving.
“The piece of wood then hit the ground on the road. It broke into half and the other half flew directly into my windshield,” she said.
“I just remember closing my eyes and holding the steering wheel tightly for a couple of seconds, expecting that the wood would cross my heart or my face as a massive arrow.
“Thousandths of a second later I realised that I was still alive and then I checked my body with one of my hands to ensure that the wood or smashed glass had not reached my body.”
Ms Garcia Camargo was miraculously unscathed as the wood landed less than 60 centimetres from her head, between the driver and passenger seats.
The truck driver continued down the road and had not realised what had occurred behind him.
“I froze to death, but I kept driving, honking my horn and opening my window and yelling to
the other drivers to help me to stop him,” she said.
“Everyone was stunned by the fact that I was alive and driving with a piece of wood through
my windshield.”
A woman in another car overtook the truck and stopped him.
Ms Garcia Camargo said she reported the matter to police but they did not attend.
Queensland police said they did not have a record of the incident.
The truck was part of a fleet that belonged to Ocean Trailers and Marine, and co-owner Warren Wink said this type of incident had not happened in 18 years.
He said the driver was a new employee and had not checked the truck properly.
There was no load on the back of the truck, but the driver failed to see the loose plank of wood.
“It’s one of those things, you learn by your mistakes and never do it again,” he said.
“We had a talk to him, it will never happen again.
“It’s a very, very dangerous thing, going through the windscreen like that.”
Mr Wink said the company had already processed the insurance claim.
Ms Garcia Camargo said she was still traumatised by the incident.
“It is a strange feeling. It is like every good feeling, every happy memory is being sucked out of me,” she said.
“Every time that I recall it, I remember that my family thinks that Australia is a wonderful and safe place to live in. I have several siblings and two beautiful twin nieces who would be devastated if I had gone.”
She urged drivers and road users to take care and not put others at risk.
“It was just a couple of seconds and centimetres that spared my life,” she said.
