A truck driver in Idaho narrowly escaped a terrifying backhoe death after a semi-truck slammed into a bridge just feet in front of her.
Tabitha Farely, 27, was driving down Interstate 15 transporting portable toilets to an event in Fort Hall when she slammed on the brakes, as harrowing footage showed the close call with a backhoe.
The MVP Rentals employee’s dashcam footage captured the moment the truck in front hit the bridge, causing a giant dust cloud to erupt and a rogue backhoe to flip onto the roadway in front of her.
‘I heard the noise before I saw the dust. Once I saw the dust, I knew that I was having a bridge come down on me,’ Farley told East Idaho News.
‘The only thing I could think of was, “Don’t lose the Porta Potties.”‘
The semi-truck, driven by a 36-year-old man from New Plymouth, that was seen in front of Farley was transporting two backhoes southbound as it collided with the Porterville Road Bridge.
As the truck made impact with the bridge, one of the backhoes that clipped the bridge came off the truck and landed in the median.
‘You can’t see it in the footage, but [the backhoe] does a cartwheel above [my truck],’ Farley said.
‘I could see it up in the air before it actually came down in front of the truck.’
Farley drove under the bridge, coming to a stop within just feet of part of the backhoe hanging over the road.
A second semi-truck, that was two cars behind Farley, hauling more backhoes also crashed into the bridge just seconds later, according to an Idaho State Police news release.
Fortunately, the trucker had watched a video on what to do if a driver crashes in front of you on the highway just the night before.
‘It said to drive as if you were in the snow. Pump your brakes, don’t slam on them, because you’ll cause an accident behind you,’ Farley said.
She added that the driver behind her responded to the incident well, sparing further incidents from occurring at the scene.
‘There was a little pickup behind me, which I’m thankful he knew how to drive, because I had a long trailer behind me,’ Farley added.
Despite the terrifying near miss, Farley was able to get to the event on time and believed her employer’s training helped her manage the situation.
‘Just mind what you’re doing. Don’t be on your phone, don’t be looking down. There are so many drivers that I see that are just, on the daily, looking at something other than the road,’ she added.
‘If I wasn’t looking at the road, it could have been very bad.’
The roadway reopened at around 11pm on Tuesday, while repairs on the bridge are underway, the outlet reported.