Box van driver falls asleep on Hwy. 26 NW of Madras, nearly drives off cliff
Crash through guardrail awakened him, 2 feet from tragedy, sheriff says
MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – A box truck driver fell asleep at the wheel Wednesday and almost drove off a high cliff on U.S. Highway 26 northwest of Madras, but crashing through the guardrail awakened him, Jefferson County Sheriff Marc Heckathorn said.
Deputies responded shortly before noon to the reported single-vehicle crash at milepost 110, “at the top of the grade,” about seven miles west of Madras, Heckathorn said.
The arriving deputy found the van had left the road, crashed through the guardrail and was sitting by the road’s south shoulder, having nearly gone off the cliff.
“I spoke to the driver, and he said he had fallen asleep and was awakened by the crash into the guardrail,” Heckathorn said in a Facebook post. “The driver was still visibly shaken from the ordeal but was uninjured.”
Oregon State Police and ODOT responded, the sheriff said, and OSP is investigating the crash.
“Very close (about two feet) from being a tragic crash,” Heckathorn wrote.
God was watching out and intervened pretty much at last second. It it had been an Amazon courier he’d be disciplined more than likely.😕
Did you not read the article? god wasn’t what woke him up, it was the guardrail. Next you’re going to say Dinos are fake news and the earth was created in a week.
Being a bully to someone about their faith is a real class act, not.
Promoting your faith on a public forum is asking for ridicule.
since when has THIS comments section been a bastion of class? This place is is either racist boomers or Orange County trash. Toughen up snowflake.
Give us a break bledso.
I’m so grateful he’s alive. I’m wondering what was going on that had him so exhausted?
It’s easy to become mesmerized sitting behind the wheel after early hours loading the truck, driving for hours, heater drying your eyes. All kinds of variables. A driving job is not as easy as it seems. It takes a certain breed.
And that was just a box truck. If it was a semi he wouldn’t have been so lucky.