Driver's car goes flying off tow truck in Lowndes County, Georgia

[Cholo]

This is simply unbelievable! What was she doing where she couldn't see a tow truck, most assuredly with flashing yellow lights? Anyway, she took one hell of a flight!

What was that tow truck doing mostly in the fast lane with his bed elevated when there was no vehicle nearby that was ready to be towed? And why was he on the opposite side of the highway from where the wreck happened?

Amazing footage! :50

 

[Dave P.]

Well for the tow truck/launch ramp it's safer when you get hit from behind.
As for the 21 year old learning to fly I'd guess she was filing her flight plan
via text.
The poor unlucky people in the car she landed on were probably wondering
WTF !

 

[Ride1949]

Prepare to launch....LAUNCH!!!

 

[gjgalligan]

Looks light most the flashing lights are on the cab top.You would not be able to see them from behind.

 

[BULL'S-EYE]

21 year old driver, my first thought was she was most likely looking at her phone and NOT the road...I see that happen on a near daily basis myself.

 

[eveled]

I’m not saying she wasn’t at fault, but he should not have been set up like that in the travel lane.

The ramp probably blocked most of the tail and cab lights and the ramp itself probably blended in pretty well with the road.

That tow truck operator would have some explaining to do if that was my daughter or wife.

 

[ProfessorWes]

"Just some good ole boys, never meanin' no harm . . . "

Yes, there's already at least one version of that video out there with the Dukes of Hazzard theme song.

 

[hittman]

I know a State Trooper that was cruising down the highway in his fully marked white Dodge Charger. Warm sunny summer afternoon. Big stickers on the sides and back. Lots of antennas. State Police license plates. Light bar on top.
Speed limit 65, cruise control set.
Car passes him running in the mid-80s.
Lights activate, traffic stop made.
Driver asked Trooper where he was hiding. ( WTH?! )
Did not believe it when Trooper said ‘YOU PASSED ME.”

Nothing should surprise us.

 

[redhawker]

Looks light most the flashing lights are on the cab top.You would not be able to see them from behind.

Kind of hard to tell in that video but most flatbed tows that have that safety barrier (don't know if that's the proper name for it) at the cab end of the flatbed have their lightbar mounted on top of that, It's done that way specifically because the light would be blocked by the tilted flatbed if it was mounted on the cab roof. Some are actually wired up where they only flash to the rear if that's the setting the tow driver chooses. If you look at the video I believe that light colored bar on top of the safety barrier is the lightbar. Of course, I could be totally wrong as the video isn't that clear. I'm just going by how I've seen flatbed tow trucks set up in the past.

. Not the tow in question but to illustrate my contention.

 

[Watertender]

A clear case of driving HUA... I would bet that the daring young lady in the flying machine was texting and didn't even look up. There were plenty of cops there so she should have been aware that something was going on. I would want to see a wider view of everything that was going on. Maybe the rollback truck had to come from the direction it was coming from and the vehicle it was retrieving was in the median. The airborne driver owns this one...

 

[Cholo]

I’m not saying she wasn’t at fault, but he should not have been set up like that in the travel lane.

The ramp probably blocked most of the tail and cab lights and the ramp itself probably blended in pretty well with the road.

That tow truck operator would have some explaining to do if that was my daughter or wife.

You took the words out of my mouth.

 

[Watertender]

On the top of the rollback there are usually lights that activate when the hoist is engaged. I will have to ask my friend who runs a towing service about this. I am sure he will have better information. I see texting drivers every day and the stunts they pull are unreal. My son was killed by a texting driver so I have a real problem with people who drive with their eyes on the phone instead of the road.

 

[eveled]

The still images taken from video. Show the ramp only goes up to about the middle of the cab. She went through the passenger side of the cab.

I think the headboard folded forward onto the cab almost like a continuation of the ramp.

 

[GasGuzzler]

Posted on another site as a Florida story. And that video was from a local news channel.

 

[Cholo]

There's always somebody who's going to get the story wrong.

 

[Jeepnik]

No one mentioned the spreed necessary to get a car airborne for 120’.

As to the tow truck operator, while most aren’t the brightest bulbs in the pack, they usually set up in the best position. We only see a very small portion of the original accident scene.

 

[outlaw_dogboy]

Looking at the video on youtube in slower speed, it almost looks like the driver was heavily on the brakes of the flying car just before impact with the ramp. Or I could be wrong.

I will say, if the driver was texting (or doing makeup, which I've also seen a lot of), she should be glad the ramp was down. Otherwise, I think she wouldn't have survived the impact.

 

[Watertender]

The fledgling astronaut was flying for sure. She had to be fully distracted to perform such a stunt. I lived next to a lift bridge for several years and there were a bunch of idiots that hit it while it was being raised or lowered. One girl was putting on lipstick and lost several front teeth when she hit the bridge. There were flashing lights and large bells on both ends of the bridge and people still hit it. Another special kind of fool ignores railroad crossings. A locomotive engineer that I know hit a van with 4 people in it who blew through the crossing. The van driver was on a cellphone and ended up killing herself and 3 kids. 2 locomotives and 96 cars of coal can't stop quickly. The poor engineer is still haunted by it and he was as much a victim as the kids who were killed by their mother's stupidity.

 

[freakindawgen]

Once recovered she should get a framed pic for her wall.

 

[turd]

Some kinda pucker there, I'll bet.