Nathaniel Dykxhoorn was driving southbound on Stoney Trail on Friday afternoon when he got the shock of his life.
The Calgary man said he was travelling at highway speed when the tonneau cover of a pickup truck in front of his vehicle flew off and nearly impaled him.
“I swerved to avoid it as much as I could but it still struck the passenger side of my vehicle sending an aluminum rod and pieces of plastic and whatnot through the windshield, blowing up the side passenger window, breaking off a mirror, busting up a headlamp,” he said
“Some of it went under the truck, hit the lower valance. Did a whole myriad of damage to the truck.”
Tonneau covers are supposed to be secured to trucks, and experts tell Global News it comes down to the installation and maintenance to prevent this type of incident from happening.
Dykxhoorn, who was luckily not injured, said it was terrifying.
“When people tell you they saw their life flash before their eyes, I saw my life flash before my eyes,” he said. “It looked like it was all slow motion until it hit the glass then everything sped up again I was just thankful that nothing had hit me.”
“If my wife would have been with me or one of my friends with me from work, it would have been a whole different situation. I am just very thankful I was alone on that trip, and no one got hurt.”
Dykxhoorn counts himself lucky he was able to go to his construction job on Monday morning.
He said police are investigating the incident as a hit and run, as the driver of the truck didn’t stop.
“As of right now we don’t know who the culprit is, who is responsible for this. If there are any witnesses out there hopefully, we can get some information on this.”
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