A Chapala lawyer and his wife gained an unexpected new lease on life after miraculously surviving a horrific highway collision on Monday, August 20. The accident occurred around 4:30 p.m. at the turn-off to Libramiento bypass located in front of Walmart.
Sergio Macias Aldana was at the wheel of a 2008 Toyota Yaris sedan waiting for a green arrow signal to turn left, with his spouse beside him in the front passenger seat. Out of the corner of his eye he suddenly caught sight of a concrete mixer truck barreling down the bypass towards the intersection.
“I saw the truck coming down the road really fast. It began to bounce up and down as it approached the traffic light, skidding and tipping over towards us as it the careened around corner,” Macias told the Reporter in a brief interview at the scene. “I thought, this is it, we’re going to die,” he said, recalling how he braced for a fatal blow.
The cement mixer flipped over, landing on top of the car. The brunt of the impact hit the rear end, just behind the driver’s seat.
A rescue team from the Chapala fire department arrived within minutes and immediately helped extract the stunned couple from the demolished remains of their vehicle. Amazingly, Macias suffered no visible physical injury other than a minor nick on his chin and his wife escaped without harm.
In his statement to traffic police, truck driver Juan Ignacio Mendoza said that the brakes failed as he was heading towards the intersection and the weight of his load caused it to roll over when he tried to maneuver around the corner. However, Chapala traffic department commandant attributed the accident primarily to excess speed and lack of adequate precautions on the driver’s part.
Two large tow trucks equipped with chains and wenches were employed to lift up the cement mixer in order to free the crumpled car. Passing traffic from all directions was diverted through the Walmart parking lot for several hours while crash site was being cleared. Meanwhile, insurance adjustors representing both parties appeared to negotiate a settlement on the damages.
The mixer truck is the property of Concretos Tccnicos de Mexico, a cement and mortar supply outfit based in the city of Monterrey that operates an affiliate production plant on the outskirts of Guadalajara.
The incident was the third in a series of similar cargo truck accidents reported at the same spot in the last eight weeks.