A Canadian ice road truck intentionally crashed his rig in order to save a car carrying a family of five on Friday.
The truck driver, 26-year-old John Cleary, was traveling on a bridge covered in black ice between Yellowknife and Edmonton when he witnessed the vehicle dangerously fishtailing towards his truck. He decided to turn towards the bridge’s guardrail, totaling the rig and causing him to blackout and suffer eye and nose fractures.
Inside the car that was saved was a young family of five — including two infants.
From an Alberta hospital, Cleary explained that he could see a look of fear on the driver and a passenger in the car as it approached his rig.
“I could see the look on their face, the ‘Oh no’ kind of look,” Cleary said. “It was probably the same face I was giving off.”
Cleary later told his grandmother, Marion Timmons, that he decided to swerve after looking up and seeing the pictures of his daughter taped to his truck’s cab.
“He had no idea who was in that other vehicle. He knew it would be so much more disastrous if it was a head-on collision.” Timmons told reporters.
Cleary says he doesn’t remember the actual impact, only the moments before and after.
“I remember sitting in my truck and some lady was sitting in my truck with me. She told me she knew first aid, told me not to move and that an ambulance was on its way.”
After the wreck, he discovered that the vehicle he swerved to save was carrying the young family of five. He hasn’t yet heard from them.
Cleary say’s he’s looking forward to getting back on the road, but will first need to undergo surgery and several months of rehabilitation.
His truck, which was less than one month old, was completely totaled in the crash, according to CBC News.
Despite his injuries and the damaged truck, Cleary believes he made the right move. “A truck can be replaced. Lives cannot,” he added.