By David Rogers
The Independent Mail
PENDLETON, S.C. — A woman driving along S.C. 88 lost control of her vehicle Monday evening and broadsided a tree on the driver’s side.
With the collision, the tree penetrated the Ford Explorer she was driving, and responding fire station’s needed to use an extractor to cut off her door. The accident happened at about 8:30 p.m. along a stretch of S.C. 88 about a mile away from U.S. 178 toward Pendleton.
Once the door was removed, the woman crawled out of the SUV and walked to a waiting ambulance.
She was the only person in the vehicle.
“With the damage to her vehicle, it’s a miracle she sustained no serious injuries whatsoever,” one of the firefighters said.
Volunteer firefighters from the Walker-McElmoyle and Three and Twenty stations responded, as did the Pendleton Emergency Medical Service.
Authorities at the scene said the woman was apparently trying to pass another vehicle on S.C. 88 when she encountered a second vehicle in the oncoming lane. She jerked her vehicle back to the right and lost control.
That’s when her SUV left the highway and hit the tree.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol was investigating the scene late Monday, and the woman’s identity was not available.
The woman initially refused to be taken to the hospital, but emergency responders convinced her to get checked out. She appeared lucid.
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