So basically I'm very lucky.

Grandmaster

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As some of you know my family and I were going to drive from Minneapolis to Calgary.

We had travelled around 600 miles and were going to stay at a Best Western in Regina to rest overnight and continue the rest of the trip.

We were on the highway and about 15-20 minutes from Regina. My dad had slowed down the van because we were looking at the sign to see the road we had to turn next into.

I was actually asleep and I woke up to the shriek of my dad. The look on his face I'll never forget. It was of utter horror. He had lost control of the car and it was spinning across to the other lane with traffic heading our way.

That split second there I was too horrified to look in front out of the windshield as the other lane was busy with other traffic, especially semi trucks. Thankfully the car kept on slipping sideways and we managed to not to get hit with on coming traffic.

We then hit a fence, the air bags popped, the windshield broken. Luckily no one got hurt, hardly a bruise. Though my dad had some little cuts on his arm from the glass.

Then I was scared further as there was a sizzling sound and smoke coming from the engine, which we later realized was just some snow that had gotten into the engine.

If I had any doubts to whether my dad was okay, they were quickly put away as he quickly called 911 which meant he was still alert. A cop was there in 10 mins.

He was kind enough to drive up to Best Western and call a tow truck.

Basically, we were extremely lucky that nothing more serious happened. It could have been so much worse. This was one of those life changing experiences.

We flew in this morning from Regina to Calgary.

A weird part about the whole story is that my grandma (dad's side) had called us about two hours earlier when we were on the road because she felt worried about us. We explained to her that everything was going to be fine...and then of course the accident happened.

Experiences like these make you realize that so many things we worry about are meaningless. Spend time with your family this holiday season and cherish it, because as I learned, it has the potential to all be taken away in a split second.

P.S. We managed to find the place where it happened through Google Earth. Red X is where it started, blue X is where we ended up landing. The road in the middle had traffic coming in the opposite direction, and thankfully the road farthest left basically had no traffic.
 

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I'm glad everyone came out of it in one piece. Was it because of ice?
 
Yeah ice. They call it "Black ice" because it rains, and then a cold wind comes in so basically all the water freezes in a sheet of ice. And you can't see it. My dad said he lost control as he was trying to adjust because the lanes were merging.

There were 3 or 4 similar accidents close by too. :dead:
 
Well, glad your all ok. That looks like quite some distance you travelled.
 
Yep we get that here, black ice.

Glad to hear you all are OK. I have been through a few wrecks, and they are no fun.

The only way to really spot black ice is to look for what appears to be a wet or miscolored patch or part of the roadway. Or sometimes you can see the glare for headlights or whatever on it.

We get it alot due to the wind that we always have, it keeps the ground temperature below the freezing point and when it rains or snow melts it refreezes quickly into ice.

That looks like quite a slide though.
 
Yeah Black Ice sucks pretty bad

It got warm yesterday here and then cold at night and the roads froze a little bit cause of the melting snow and then it freezing.

Today is a bit warmer so wouldn't be surprised if it froze again tonight or tomorrow.

Glad you fine though :). At a stop on a back road last night I did a 360 when turning because of the black ice. It scared the crap out of me cause I didn't know why I was spinning around cause I didn't think it was froze over lol. Usually when I spin around I mean to and its fun but not when you don't try to :|.
 
:)Very Glad you and your family are all safe:) Have a Blessed & Happy Holiday:D
 
That brings back bad memories of spinning 360's down a steep hill with no guard rails and a sharp turn at the bottom. Shudders.

Glad you and your dad made it out alright. Will the vehicle survive? Or should I not ask?
 
Thanks everyone.

LeeJend: The vehicle did survive. Broken windshield, half of the side view mirror was torn off, a lot of scratching on the hood, and the front bumper was broken.

The car should make it. My dad has been trying to call them up since last night, still haven't gotten a call back.
 
Nice to know you're ok. Hope the rest of your hols are not quite as eventful.

:)
 
Bleh, that black ice can get bad at times, along with other forms of winter precip. I've driven on it before, and not even seen it as ice for obvious reasons...

My mother had an incident heading back home one day where she was heading north on i95 (they live back east), and she slipped on some of this stuff. Behind her was a tractor trailer who wasn't sure if could stop. As it turned out, she hit a gaurd rail, and the truck with virtually no more manuverability was afraid that he might hit her and not be able to pull out. He just missed her, and when he was able to stop came back to help her. Her car (a 91 Buick Skylark) was totalled, and the insurance company wrote it off as a complete loss.

Good to hear you guys made it through...
 
Glad to hear that nothing bad happened to you and your dad. Things like this are always weird. You start to skid a little latter than you did and tragedy happens.

You and your dad must live right!
 
glad you are ok, remember i had an accident similar to this one, but here in saudi and replace the ice with sand lol
 
Good to hear that you, and the others, are all ok.
 
Glad you and the family are OK.
 

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