An accident victim that got away
Responding to calls for assistance are not unusual for ITD maintenance workers who are increasingly considered first-responders. But Ty Winther, a transportation technician-senior in District 2, was unprepared for what he encountered on Idaho 6 the day before the Fourth of July holiday began.
His shift was about to end, and he was returning to the maintenance shed after a fatal crash on Idaho 9 when he received another call. An unloaded logging truck was westbound on the highway when the driver drifted out of his lane and struck the empty trailer of an eastbound chip truck.
The log truck driver tried to recover but lost control and rolled off the left shoulder of the highway and down an embankment of about 12 feet. Winther arrived a short time later and found both drivers relatively unscathed.
Optimism turned to brief despair, however, when he heard a whining sound from under the front of the logging truck. As he rounded the cab of the truck, he discovered the source of the crying. Two legs extended in front of the cab from an unexpected victim of the crash and a muffled "voice" pleading for help.
As the logging truck skidded down the embankment it scuffed up dirt and gravel. Somehow – maintenance foreman Bud Converse isn’t sure how – a young whitetail fawn had become trapped under the cab between the bumper and the ground.
Winther cleared dirt from under the bumper and pulled – like a midwife trying to deliver a baby calf. Moments later, the fawn was free of its entanglement. He pushed himself to a standing position, shook off the cobwebs, said thanks to his rescuer and bounded into a wooded area nearby.
It was a near-death experience to tell his grandchildren.
Deer that come into contact with logging trucks usually become hood ornaments. This youngster either was very unlucky – being in the wrong place at the wrong time to be buried by a bumper – or was very lucky, having escaped from the bowels of a truck.
Drivers of the two trucks also consider themselves fortunate. There were no serious injuries.
Published 7-12-13