A Calgary woman is thankful to be alive with only minor injuries after the car she was driving was struck by a gravel truck.
Eileen Boyko can’t get around very well these days. Her foot is in a walking boot as her broken toes heal, but she’s not complaining about the injury.
The pain is a reminder of a close call.
“The light turned green and I proceeded to enter the intersection and instantly, on my left, I saw the grill of a big truck speeding towards me,” Boyko recalled.
She was turning north onto Sarcee Trail at a shopping centre north of Stoney Trail on March 1 at around noon.
Dashcam video shows the moment a gravel truck came through the intersection, narrowly missing the vehicle beside her.
The truck hit the front end of Boyko’s car.
Ryan Shum was in the car beside Boyko. It was his dashcam video that captured the near miss.
“We had a full green light for a few seconds, and I was proceeding to make that turn, and I see this gravel semi(-truck) rolling past the intersection,” he recalled. “I was lucky to be able to stop because I didn’t gun it off the line. It was within inches or I wouldn’t be having this conversation.
“It was a surreal moment. A state of shock.”
Shum said he immediately got out to check on Boyko and then to talk to the driver of the truck.
He let police know he had the dashcam video.
“I showed them the video right away and they were in shock and disbelief as to how close it was,” Shum said.
Calgary police confirmed that the truck driver was charged with failing to stop for a red light.
Shum said he credits not being hit by the truck with defensive driving and some luck.
“I think it’s luck,” he said. “I would rather say it’s angels watching over me — that’s why I’m still here being able to share my experiences.
“(And it highlighted how important it is) to really be defensive. Even though you have the green light, as you would when you are a pedestrian, look left, look right and be aware of your surroundings before proceeding with caution.”