In the aftermath of Friday’s record-breaking snowstorm, a Calgary driver caught a frightening moment on her dash cam on Saturday.
Jennifer Partridge and her son were heading north on Crowchild Trail before the 17 Avenue S.W. turnoff in the far right lane at around 9:30 a.m.
“All of a sudden, there’s a silver SUV sliding sideways,” she said. “It came across the three lanes of traffic.”
“It was a moment of sheer panic. I hit the brakes. We have winter tires, thank goodness. The lane I was in was well-travelled so it was just wet, so I was able to stop reflexively to miss this car.”
“It was surreal,” Partridge said. “I have never experienced that before.”
‘Miraculously escaped injury’
After crossing multiple lanes of oncoming traffic, the SUV hit a berm. Partridge’s son called 911 and they kept driving for their safety.
Police said EMS and the fire department were called but did not find anything at the cleared scene. Police said no injuries were reported and the request for officers to attend was cancelled.
“We’re just so grateful that nobody was injured,” Partridge said. “The Jeep beside me did not hit the car, I did not hit the car… I honestly believe that this SUV just miraculously escaped injury.”
Partridge said her husband bought the dash cam last Boxing Day. It’s the first thing like this they’ve captured on video.
“It was just such an amazing video and we just wanted to share it and also as a good news story because I think it turned out OK.”
Drive to the conditions
Carey Simpson was driving the black Jeep to the left of Patridge. Simpson said she was driving for the slush-covered icy road conditions at 10 to 15 kilometres below the 80 km/h speed limit.
“I saw him near the back of my bumper and then, the next thing I knew, he was in front of me,” she said. “I hit the brakes slowly and I just prayed he wouldn’t hit my Jeep and us.”
“We were just so shocked and stunned,” she added. “I’m not going to lie, I was pretty pissed because the whole thing was his error in trying to get somewhere fast.”
“He was lucky he didn’t hurt anybody because he was going too fast for the conditions. If it had been a couple seconds later, who knows how many people he would’ve taken out?”
– With files from Heide Pearson