If you were driving to work and happened to watch a car catapult over a berm, fly through some power lines, and crash onto the road in front of you, you’d be forgiven for thinking you just stumbled into an episode of the Dukes of Hazzard. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this week in Yuba City, California.
Miraculously, the woman behind the wheel escaped with only minor injuries, which is really a testament to the safety of cars these days. The California Highway Patrol says that intoxication was not a factor in this crash and opted against shedding any further light on potential causes or punishments, as reported by a Sacramento CBS affiliate.
Prior to launching from the berm, the driver in question was involved in a hit-and-run accident. She appeared to be driving significantly faster than the 40 km/h zone allowed for, and she’d been driving backwards on Highway 99, exiting an on-ramp.
One man’s dashcam caught the whole thing on camera, which you can watch below:
Brian Conejo, who works at Mechanical and Irrigation Solutions, witnessed the accident on his way to work. He told CBS Sacramento what he saw:
“They came flying straight through here. There’s a really hard left-hand turn up here,” he said of the crash site. “They failed to make that turn, just kept going straight and literally went flying over the whole overpass.”
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“It looks like they pretty much threaded the needle between the power lines,” Conejo said.
He pointed out that things could have been much worse for everyone involved. The woman could have been seriously injured. A crash into the power lines would have left the community without power. Even a spark or tiny flame could have sent the grass alight, causing serious environmental damage. Thankfully, everything worked out for the best.