A MOUNT Gambier man has miraculously escaped with his life after a large tree crashed onto his vehicle while driving to work late Wednesday afternoon.
During the peak of the storm, Jon Bradley, 25, says he saw a tree hurtling towards his vehicle before a branch violently pierced his windscreen.
“I saw a massive shadow come towards me and I knew I was in for a ride,” Mr Bradley told The Border Watch yesterday.
Mr Bradley was just minutes from his work at the United Dairy Company milk processing factory when the accident happened.
The popular employee had a car load of pizzas for his workmates who were scheduled to start a 12-hour night shift.
“I was driving just out of Nangwarry about 5.30pm and there was heaps of debris on the road,” Mr Bradley recalled.
“Out of the corner of my eye I saw massive shadow. I ducked and put my hands on my head and then the branch hit the car – there was a huge bang,” Mr Bradley explained.
“A whole tree came down on top of my car.”
Frighteningly, the branch speared the windscreen, steering column and dashboard.
“I got out of the car and I thought ‘wow’. A guy – who had just pulled up – told me to get in and I thought ‘that was too close for comfort’,” Mr Bradley added.
“I dodged a pretty big bullet. I was glad the stick was not long enough to reach all the way through.”
While he knew there was a wind warning from emergency services, he later learned there were wind gusts of up to 109kph in the area.
“When I was driving, I could see the wind gusts which were pushing stuff onto the road – there are hundreds of massive trees along the Riddoch Highway in that area,” Mr Bradley said.
Luckily, Mr Bradley had the sense not to swerve given the possibility of other cars on the road.
Mr Bradley – who just weeks ago hit a kangaroo along the same highway – was still pulling shattered glass from his hair yesterday.
The damage to his car includes a smashed windscreen, a “caved in bonnet” as well as both side mirrors “being gone”.
“I am going to go and have a look at how much damage there is to the car, which was towed away from the site of the crash.”
Mr Bradley thanked the man who helped him after the accident.
“He was in a four-wheel-drive and he was driving around the trees on the road,” he said.
While managing to get the pizzas to his work mates in “one piece”, he was given the night off after his terrifying ordeal.
“My boss said to me ‘you nearly died, you can take the night off’, which was awesome.”
He said a paramedic – who was driving past – also stopped to see if he was okay.
Mr Bradley said his car was a gift from his mum, which he only registered two days ago.
“I needed another car because I hit a kangaroo about three weeks ago travelling to work,” he said.
He said the Riddoch Highway now made him somewhat jittery.
“There are kangaroos and trees – I hate that road. I will see what happens when I go back to work on Monday,” Mr Bradley said.
