A woman who narrowly escaped death after a bizarre accident on the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge Friday afternoon said she’s lucky to have survived and grateful that the impact didn’t cause a multi-vehicle collision.
“It’s a miracle that I’m alive and it’s a miracle that no one else was hurt,” Susan Milne told Global News in an interview Sunday.
Around 2 p.m. on Oct. 7, Milne was driving to New Westminster for an appointment with her four-year-old son when she heard a loud noise and saw something in her peripheral vision.
“I saw something coming, a flying object, this steel beam which I later discovered, coming in my general direction,” Milne said.
“Everything just happened so fast.”
Sgt. Steve Addison with the Vancouver Police Department said a northbound truck lost part of its load, dropping a massive metal beam onto the bridge deck.
The steel bar bounced into oncoming traffic and impaled the windshield of Milne’s Mercedes.
After feeling the impact, Milne said she immediately stopped her car, hoping she wouldn’t get rear-ended.
She remembers blinking and opening her eyes to incessant honking from her vehicle horn.
“The steering wheel had been damaged, my windshield was completely shattered and I saw this beam just right through my window to my shoulder right beside me – it was very shocking.”
Fortunately, the large piece of metal missed Milne by about one inch or 2.5 cm while her son, who was asleep in a car seat on the rear passenger side, was also unhurt.
“I just told him everything’s OK and, there was just glass everywhere,” Milne recalled.
She said she crawled out of her car on the passenger side and checked on her son as other drivers stopped to help in the moments before firefighters and police arrived.
“There’s still a lot of adrenalin and shock but of course, I’m incredibly thankful,” Milne said.
“The alternative is just not even something I can really think about.”
Detectives from the VPD’s Collision Investigation Unit are still trying to identify the truck driver, who continued on to the North Shore after the crash.
Police believe the driver of the truck was likely unaware of what had happened.
Some witnesses have come forward but police would still like to hear from anyone with dashcam video who was on the Ironworkers bridge between 1:50 and 2 p.m. Friday.
Although traumatized, Milne and her family are especially grateful for this Thanksgiving.
“I did have my moment when I had a shower to get the glass shards off my body, where of course, I cried,” recalled Milne.
“I just thank God and my angels for looking out for me and protecting me and my son.”
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