A STUDENT narrowly avoided being impaled after a huge strip of metal fell off a car and lodged in her windscreen.
Alannah was driving on the M3 from Bournemouth to her parents’ home in Addlestone, Surrey, on Tuesday, June 24.
The metal chunk splintered when it hit the windscreen, possibly saving Alannah’s life[/caption]
Alannah holds the metal shard that almost killed her when it hit her Fiat 500[/caption]
The terrifying incident occurred at 2.25pm, around a mile before junction four, which Alannah compared to film series Final Destination.
The 22 year-old, a graphic design student at Arts University Bournemouth, had no time to react as the huge metallic pole smashed into her windscreen – leaving her inches from death.
She told The Sun: “It looks like a step from the side of a car. It hit me when I was going about 70 miles per hour.
“I tried to swerve a bit but I was in the fast lane and there were cars to my side, so I couldn’t move lanes.
“When I saw the item blow off the car, I put my hand on the horn and I didn’t let go, because my first instinct was to make everyone aware something’s happened.
“Then it hit. In that initial shock, I burst out crying because it was the biggest bang, everything sounded like it smashed.
“I thought the whole thing came through the windscreen, it was really confusing, I was just in shock that there was this massive thing in my car.”
Alannah initially pulled over to the hard shoulder to ring her dad, but was terrified that her tiny Fiat 500 would be flattened by a passing lorry.
She said: “I called my dad, and he knew that I was terrified of being on the side of the motorway. When a lorry goes past, it really shakes, it was petrifying.”
After less than a minute she pulled back on to the motorway with the intention of reaching the next service station.
Alannah’s plan was to stay behind a lorry to avoid any stones flying up and shattering what remained of her windscreen.
However, she was flagged by a fellow driver, who forced her to pull over and then called the emergency services.
Alannah said: “He came straight up and helped me get out of the car and over the barrier to make sure I was okay.
“It’s so annoying that I don’t remember his name, but I’m so grateful for him because he helped calm me down, he helped get everything sorted. He was the one who called everyone to help me.
“He stayed with me until the emergency services arrived before leaving.”
Fire services and police attended the scene while Alannah spoke to an ambulance team over the phone, but miraculously she sustained no physical injuries.
Firemen told Alannah that a ‘guardian angel’ must have been watching over her because the metal object split when it hit the windscreen, stopping it from passing all the way through and potentially killing her.
Alannah said: “The firemen actually did say the windshield actually helped the metal split.
An interior shot of the car shows just how close the metal shard came to Alannah[/caption]
Police put duct tape over the whole so Alannah could drive on to the next services[/caption]
Alannah holds the gigantic metal strip, which she said may be a step from a car[/caption]
“They said if it didn’t split, it would have come all the way through and hit me.
“It could have ended up being really, really serious, I’m incredibly lucky that I kept control of the car after it hit and carried on driving until I could pull over.
“The firemen, my friends and family all said that it was a guardian angel watching over me, which was lovely to hear.”
And shockingly, despite the huge gaping hole in the windscreen, Alannah’s car – her first ever vehicle, that she acquired in January 2020 – sustained no damage to the bodywork whatsoever.
She said: “The policeman laughed, actually, when I had finally calmed down, because he said, ‘I can’t believe there is not one single scratch on your car’.”
Police removed the metal chunk and put duct tape over the hole, then closed off part of a lane of the motorway in order to escort Alannah to the next services.
They conducted a short investigation at the scene but determined that the incident was entirely accidental, Alannah said.
The emergency services also commended the young student’s driving and said without keeping a cool head and remaining in control of her car, things could have been much worse.
Alannah’s friends joked that her ordeal was like the famous scene from the action film Final Destination 2 in which logs fall off the back of a truck.
She said: “A lot of people keep saying it reminds them of that scene. That’s been kind of the laughing joke today about it.”
She added: “I just feel very lucky with how it turned out. I feel very unlucky it happened, but very lucky I survived.
“Luckily, it’s only the windshield which is damaged, but it could have gone so seriously wrong.
“All my friends that I’ve told, they were like, you honestly could have died, you could have been seriously injured.
“I’ve walked out of it intact though, I haven’t even got a scratch on me.
“My parents were very grateful that I was okay. My mum said it was my granddad who was watching over me, and looking after me.”
Alannah is soon heading back to university but shared her advice for other drivers in similar situations.
She said: “I know it sounds stupid, but try and keep control of the car, and just try not to suddenly slam your brakes on.
“Just try and stay in contact and get yourself somewhere safe.”
