Driver almost blown off bridge

A truck driver narrowly escaped plummeting off a bridge after high winds nearly knocked his semi truck off a bridge in Washington early Wednesday morning.

The incident happened on the Deception Pass Bridge near Anacortes, Wasington on January 13th.

According to KOMO News, truck driver Jeff Myles was hauling mail along State Road 20 when the wind picked up and blew him and his rig into a sticky situation.
“I just passed the middle of the bridge and a gust of…I don’t know how bad… just picked up my trailer and my truck and just pushed it against the guard rail. I slammed on my brakes and I just laid over the guard rail. It tilted about 3 feet each way.”

With his truck leaning over the guardrail, Myles said he wasn’t left with many options for escape.

“I could look down at the water (out my window), so I wasn’t going to open THAT door,” he said.
Myles then attempted to exit through the passenger side door, but the 64 mph wind made it too difficult, so he crawled through the passenger door window.

“I’m standing on the ladder outside the truck and I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’ve watched too many horror movies — I’m going to jump off this truck and this truck is going to come back and fall on me,’ so I jumped past the truck,” Myles explained.

Luckily, he was unhurt in the incident. The truck and load of mail were undamaged, as well.

“I’m OK, just feeling a bit older — a few more gray hairs,” he admitted.

“Any time the wind would gust you could see the truck wobble over the side,” said Savannah Debus, a coworker of Myles’ who happened to pass by the wreck as he was escaping.

“It was probably the craziest thing I have ever seen.”

The truck had to remain on the bridge for several more hours as crews waited for the wind to subside. The incident has since been cleared.