"She stood up on her seat, raised her fists in the air and yelled, 'Airbags!'” [View all]

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Last edited Wed Feb 12, 2014, 08:55 PM - Edit history (2)

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Motorists_advised_to_avoid_Turnpike_spur_following_truck_crash.html

Maine driver in truck crash: ‘I saw him coming and I was terrified’

A woman whose car was crushed between a gasoline tanker truck and a pickup in South Portland escapes serious injury.

By David Hench [e-mail]
Staff Writer

A woman walked away without significant injury following a horrific collision Tuesday on the Maine Turnpike spur near Main Street in South Portland.

The crash occurred about 8 a.m. when a tanker truck hauling gasoline crashed into the back end of a 2010 Toyota Corolla, slamming it into a pickup and crushing it between the two trucks.

The driver of the car, Joyce Gauthier, 48 of Portland, was on her way to work at Hannaford corporate headquarters when she slowed for a long line of traffic trying to enter Route 1.

“I looked up in my rearview mirror and I saw him coming,” Gauthier said. “I saw him coming and I was terrified.”

The truck slammed so hard into Gauthier’s car that the rear half collapsed, the front end was mangled and the roof ripped backward.

Amazingly, Gauthier was not seriously injured.

With what she described as “adrenalized craziness,” she stood up on her seat, raised her fists in the air and yelled, “Airbags!”

“Without them, I would have been a goner,” she said. “I’m just so thankful for people like Ralph Nader who fight for consumer protection.”

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H/T: Rachel Maddow on Twitter