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MURRAY — A terrifying close call on a popular freeway serves as a stark reminder of the hidden dangers of road debris.
On June 21, what started as a routine drive on Interstate 15 near 4500 South quickly took a terrifying turn for Hope McCurdy.
"I didn't see it from the beginning, but there was a moment where it did come into my vision," McCurdy said.
She said the object, a 9-inch by 2-inch, heavy piece of metal, flew at her like a ninja star.
"It popped through and it hit me in the chest," she said. "I thought I had been impaled. I didn't know if I was OK for a moment."
Despite shards of glass in her eyes and cuts on her face and chest, McCurdy managed to pull over and showed troopers what had crashed into her windshield, hit her, and landed in her lap. Utah Highway Patrol troopers told her she was "one of the lucky ones."
Authorities believe the debris was a leaf spring from a suspension, possibly from an overloaded trailer. Now, McCurdy calls the piece of metal her "survival souvenir."
"I was lucky because as it spun through the air, it hit my windshield flat. If it had come through like this, I probably wouldn't be here today," McCurdy said.
Just last year, UHP responded to more than 18,000 calls related to road hazards, 420 of which caused a crash. And like McCurdy's, a handful of those were caught on camera.
"It's definitely one of the strangest things that's ever happened to me and one of the most miraculous things I've probably walked away from," she said.
Now, McCurdy is pleading with drivers to secure their loads and check their undercarriages to prevent similar incidents from happening to others.
