TWO people died in a fiery accident in northwest Houston about 9:15 a.m. Tuesday when a UPS van slammed into a Saturn on northbound Tomball Parkway near Greens Road, police said. The Saturn had stopped in a moving lane, authorities said. The UPS driver got out safely, but the Saturn’s driver and passenger were killed. (Houston Chronicle, June 8, 2010)
Carl and I were immediately behind this collision when it occured. We were almost to the Houston Temple exit, where we were planning to spend the rest of the day, doing work on behalf of many of our deceased ancestors. We noticed a stalled car, which was sitting right in the middle of the freeway. We were in the lane to the left of it, and were a few car lengths away from passing it, when the UPS truck slammed right into it, going 65 mph. Debri came flying at us. Carl immediatley slowed down and veered off to the right when he saw that the truck, with the car underneath it, was careening to the left, where it came to rest against the median. Flames were darting across the road from the fuel tank of the crushed car. We knew that the passengers would have died instantly from the explosive impact. We were hoping that the car was vacant, since it was just sitting there, without any emergency flashers on. When I looked over my shoulder at the wreck, I could see just a small part of the front of the car, (the remainder being totally under the truck) and could see no passengers. The UPS guy must have realized too late that the vehicle he was approaching, wasn't moving.
After we passed by, Carl was wondering if he should have attempted a heroic rescue of the UPS guy and was feeling bad he didn't. I told him that due to the fire racing across the freeway (and the vehicles potentially about to explode), and the fact that he would have had to cross the freeway with oncoming cars approaching, that would have been too dangerous. We helped by immediately calling 911, and were the first to do so. When we arrived at the temple minutes later, both of us feeling very shaken up and in shock, we could hear the sirens of the rescue vehicles. We felt very sad about the way that those poor people in the car had to die, and prayed for the UPS guy. We were so grateful to find out later on the news that he made it out O.K. We felt deeply grateful to have been protected and watched over and to still be alive on this earth. We were literally seconds away from being crushed in that accident. If we had been just a little bit ahead of where we were on that highway, the truck/car would have plowed right into us, since we were in the left lane and right in their path. I don't think we would have made it out alive. Luckily, there were hardly any other cars on that portion of the normally busy freeway, so no other cars were impacted, and Carl was able to move quickly over to the right and get around the accident.
When we pulled up to the temple, I expected to see the front of the car charred and damaged, but wasn't about to complain if it was. However, there was not a dent, or scratch or anything else on that car to indicate we had just driven through flames and flying debris. The freeway was shut down for 1 and 1/2 hours. When we were driving home six hours later, the traffic was still badly backed up and hardly moving on that section of the freeway. The charred wreckage and police cars/firetrucks were still there.
