Driving Danger: Beware of Flying Objects
March 24, 2007 — -- A Utah woman is fighting for her life this morning after a metal pipe smashed through her windshield and into her face as she drove down the highway.
Brenda Shaw was driving down a Utah interstate when, without warning, an eight-foot metal pipe reportedly kicked up by the car in front of her came flying through her windshield.
"The bar penetrated just left of the nose through the cheekbone and it came out through just below the base of the skull," said Shaw's husband, Kelly Shaw.
Incredibly, she survived, but others haven't been so fortunate.
In 1998, a metal bar on the Long Island Expressway flew through the windshield of "All the President's Men" director Alan Pakula, killing him.
Any debris, whether it's a screw or a large pipe or a mattress, can be a road hazard -- and these seemingly freak accidents are actually a growing highway menace.
"There are about 25,000 crashes a year attributed to vehicle road debris," AAA spokeswoman Michele Mount said.
Fifteen years ago, it was about half that number -- and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roadway debris contributed to the deaths of 91 people in 2005.
Sheets of snow and ice can also be deadly, and some states have ice removal laws.
"Ice presents a tremendous threat to motorists -- ice on vehicles, ice on top of large trucks," Mount said.
Laws concerning debris vary from state to state and in many cases the person responsible is never found.
In Shaw's accident, no one knows where the pipe came from, but everyone in her family said her survival alone is a miracle.
AAA said motorists can be very helpful in spotting debris on the road and alerting authorities as soon as possible. The longer debris stays on the road, the deadlier the danger becomes.
