The Effects of Road Rage

A few months ago, my baby brother brought home a new girlfriend named Elizabeth Brown. It didn't take long for the entire family to fall in love with her. She brings out the best in everyone around her with her sweet demeanor. She's funny, intelligent, inspiring and what the turning point was for me is how genuinely happy she makes my brother. She encourages him to be a better man, to WANT to be a better man. It takes a remarkable woman to do that.

Sadly, just over two years ago, sweet Liz lost her father to pancreatic cancer. In the time since, she has felt as though he is her guardian angel. She isn't alone in that belief. According to a recent poll published in Time magazine revealed that 69 percent of Americans believe in angels, and 46 percent of that group believe they have a personal guardian angel.

It is very fortunate for Liz that she has a guardian angel. My family and I very firmly believe that he was working overtime on Saturday morning.

She was on her way to work and had her boyfriend, Aarion Lewis - my brother - on speaker phone. They often talk in the morning while she's driving, but she is very careful to leave the phone on speaker, and to never answer a text message. He told me what he knew about what happened next, "She called me before she got on highway 70, going east, and was nervous because of the number of semi trucks [on the highway]. She was talking to me and yelled at a guy who cut her off. He drove up quickly to her bumper and was so close, she said couldn't see his head lights. It's a big truck, so that had to be very close. When he got the chance, he cut her off within half an inch of her bumper, so she slowed down. That's when he "brake checked" her. Twice."

At this point, she had to slam on her brakes, even knowing how dangerous that is on the highway. She turned on her blinker to get away from him. Liz tells me that when she did that, in her hurry to get away from the angrily aggressive driver, she over-corrected, pulled too far into the lane, and hit the back of a semi truck. That spun her around, and she went under a second semi truck. As she went under that truck, her car's roof was ripped off and it cut the brake lines. (The tow truck driver guesstimates that occurence as a "one in a million chance.") The truck driver alternated using his cab brakes and his emergency brake to slow down and eventually stop. He very carefully steered to be sure to keep her car directly under him, so she wouldn't spin out into oncoming traffic. Until they reached a complete stop, he wasn't aware that while he was driving East, she had spun around to face South, and that her car was precariously braced against a wheel that had locked when the brake lines were cut.

Aarion was still on the phone line throughout the entire accident for close to five minutes afterwards. He heard the squealing of the tires, the crash of her car hitting a semi truck, and the potentially deadly screeching metal of her roof being removed. He also heard the truck driver trying to reassure her, through her tears, that help was on the way - and then sirens in the distance before the phone went dead.

It was over an hour before her mother was able to call Aarion. The jaws of life had been used to remove Liz from her once lovely little red car. She had been rushed to the hospital. Remarkably, she didn't have a single broken bone, had no internal damage, and the following day, a brain bleed was the concern, but those tests were also negative. She has more stitches than the plastic surgeons were able to count, and is in a great deal of pain, but is expected to make a full recovery.

That's jaw-dropping good news. Even more so, when you look at statistics about tractor-trailer or semi truck accidents involving small passenger cars. In tractor trailer accidents, 98% of fatalities occur to the individuals in the passenger vehicles.

We will be eternally grateful for the fact that Liz is still in our lives, in spite of those facts, but now we have another concern. The truck that caused her to swerve into the semi truck left the scene. It may not be diplomatic of me, but I cannot feel anything but the thought that the Dodge Ram truck driver should be charged with attempted murder. I also feel that the tractor-trailer truck driver deserves a medal for saving her life.

Missouri law defines road rage as an uncontrolled display of anger by the operator of a motor vehicle, which can result in property damage or personal injury. Drivers prone to road rage are usually aggressive individuals who fail to follow courteous driving practices. It also states that you may never stop on the highway itself. That includes "brake checking," as you also make it harder for drivers behind you to stop without hitting you. Liz was following the law in regards to what to do in case of being tailgated. Missouri law states that,

"If you are followed too closely or “tailgated” by another driver, and there is a right lane, move over to the right. If there is no right lane, wait until the road ahead is clear and then reduce speed slowly. This will encourage the tailgater to drive around you. Never slow down quickly to discourage a tailgater. This will only increase your risk of being hit from behind."

I personally know four different people that saw this crash happen. Not one of those people, including the towing company, expected the driver of that little red car to live. The first response all of those people has had was to exclaim that she must have had a guardian angel with her. With an average 98% fatality rate of a passenger vehicle with a tractor-trailer, I can't help but agree with that theory.

Liz has shared the description of the truck that caused the accident with me. If you see it, our families would appreciate you passing the tip along to the O'Fallon Police Department. 

It's a navy blue Dodge Ram pick-up 1500 with a chrome bumper and chrome rims. The bumper may be damaged with red paint.

Have you ever been on the other end of someone with road rage on a highway? Did it make you nervous? Have you ever lost a family member to a highway accident beyond their control?

The entire concept is terrifying, and while we cannot stress how fortunate we feel to the truck driver that saved Liz's life with his quick thinking and reflexes, I don't want someone else to go through this situation. We are watching for that truck, and would love your assistance in that search, as well.

Once again, it was a navy blue Dodge Ram pick-up 1500 with a chrome bumper and chrome rims. Liz believes she may have clipped the bumper with her red car.