Have You Seen This Amazing Truck Crash?

It happened last winter, but photos of this amazing truck crash are still flying into my inbox and across my browser with amazing frequency. The first photo shows a crash scene in which a 1991 GMC pickup truck crossed a two-lane highway, bashed through the siderails of oncoming traffic, and then flew through the air to land backwards on a perch off the side of the road. The second photo pans back to show that the perch is actually a cliff, and the truck barely missed a cannonball drop to the bottom of a 200-foot canyon. The email usually bears the headline "I bet this guy will be in church Sunday!" Talk about a near-death experience.

My first thought was that the photos must have been photoshopped, and so I dismissed them as just another internet fraud run amok. Well guess what? Reports at respected news site cnn.com  and urban-legend busting snopes.com say "The Hurricane City Police department confirmed that these images 'are consistent with a single vehicle traffic accident that occurred on State Route 59 in Hurricane City' on 30 December 2006."

So there you have it, folks. The photos are real. You can satisfy your curiosity with larger versions available at thatsnotnews.com

Now the only fact still in question is the driver's actual speed: The driver told police the he was traveling about 55 mph when he brushed the right shoulder, then "overcorrected back left and crossed the oncoming lane of traffic before hitting a cement barricade with the right front of the vehicle." Based on the 92-foot-long skid mark, however, accident investigators suggest he was more likely traveling about 83 mph.

By Brandy Schaffels
Contributing Editor

Comments

[Art]

If this photo is real and it is a 200 foot drop next the the truck, why are the rescue personal in climbing gear? The 1st rule of a rescuer is not to become an another victim at the crash.