The Truckload Carriers Association has recognized Peter Pearce, a truck driver for Flying J Inc., as a Highway Angel for helping extract an accident victim from her overturned car.
On Feb. 9, Pearce was heading north on Highway 42 between Debolt and Grand Prairie in Alberta, Canada, when a pickup truck passed him going close to the speed limit. As the driver switched back into her original lane, the vehicle slipped on a patch of black ice, careened backward into a ditch, flipped over three times, crashed through a fence and landed upside down in a field.
Both Pearce and another motorist stopped to help. While the other driver called emergency personnel, Pearce ran down the embankment and leapt over a crash barrier into thigh-high snow to reach the pickup. Its engine still was running, and the rear wheels still were turning. The driver was in a state of panic, screaming for help.
Since both doors were too damaged to open, Pearce asked the woman to cover her face while he broke a window. He then reached in, turned off the ignition and extracted the driver. He moved her a few feet away and covered her with a travel blanket that the other motorist provided. The woman had a large gash on the back of her head, so Pearce retrieved a cushion from her car to help absorb the flow of blood. All three waited together for the next 20 minutes until paramedics arrived at the scene.
When told he was being honored as a Highway Angel, Pearce – who has aided other motorists in the past – modestly said, “It’s just a part of truck driving – the unseen part.”
For the kindness he showed that day, Pearce will receive a Highway Angel lapel pin, certificate and patch. Flying J, based in Ogden, Utah, also will receive a certificate acknowledging that one of its drivers is a Highway Angel.
