Freak accident a sobering reminder of life's frailty

"There but for the grace of God go we" was how this column was supposed to be themed.

I was going to mention how, many years ago, I was headed north on Route 53, just past Roosevelt Road, when a limb from an overhanging tree fell on my windshield. It wasn't big enough to shatter it, but it rattled me thoroughly and prompted all sorts of thought about the fragility of life and how your number can be up on a moment's notice.

I also was going to mention the tragic accident, also many years ago, on Route 59 in which a truck hit and threw up a rock that smashed through a passing motorist's windshield, killing the driver while his horrified wife witnessed it.

Then, I was going to mention Pete Morano's story. The Aurora man was headed east this week on Butterfield Road, passing a semitrailer near a railroad underpass. The underpass sheared a chunk of ice off the top of the truck's trailer, sending it through the windshield of Morano's car. His face was bloodied, several facial bones were broken and he may not regain vision in his left eye.

So, there you have it: Three once-in-a-gazillion occurrences, with three decidedly different outcomes. Morano was amazingly upbeat and philosophical about what many would call an incredibly rotten piece of luck. Two passers-by stopped and helped staunch the bleeding in his face.

"In retrospect, I truly was (lucky)," Morano told reporter Marco Santana. "I could have been killed."

Indeed, but it turns out Morano's freak accident might not have been as freaky as one would think.

After Santana's story appeared on Thursday's front page, he heard from two people with related stories of their own.

"I almost fell off my chair when I read where this happened," said Tim Giometti of Batavia. "This is the EXACT same spot where ice crushed my car with my infant son in the back seat." Luckily, no one was harmed.

Kate Haeger of Wheaton relayed how a truck with a "boom" that was not adequately secured hit the top of the same underpass, sending a chunk of concrete into her windshield. "We were not hurt, thank goodness, but scared to death," she said, suggesting that we take a look at the underpass; all sort of gouges and cracking at the top of the underpass sure suggest it's been hit a time or two.

Our accident victims wonder if the ancient underpass might be lower than current standards allow. Or, we wondered, what is the maximum height for semitrailers? Turns out the underpass has a clearance of 14 feet, about two feet less than the norm, but nothing illegal. The maximum height for a trailer is 13 feet 6 inches. That can leave a scant 6 inches of clearance. Add a heavy snowfall on top of a trailer, and you might be tipping the scales toward something considerably less than a once-in-a-gazillion accident. More like a tragedy waiting to happen.

Santana put in calls to government and regulatory agencies that might want to do something about this situation. It would be up to the Canadian National Railroad to rebuild the underpass. That isn't going to happen, a CN spokesman said, and the clearance height is prominently posted; truck drivers should abide by that. There's some talk of rebuilding that stretch of Butterfield Road, but a lowering of the roadway apparently isn't envisioned. There's no law requiring truckers to somehow brush the snow and ice off the top of their rigs, but a state official promised to look into it.

The accidents of Morano, Giometti and Haeger might get someone's attention, but it's been my experience that extreme tragedy has to occur before there's a call to action on a massive and expensive public works project. In fact, after all the death and destruction from the bridge collapse in Minneapolis a few summers ago, and the resultant nationwide inspections that showed many were substandard, how many bridges do you see being rebuilt today?

So, as the snow likely continues to fly this morning, as do the warnings about driving too fast for conditions and such, say a prayer that even the things you can't control don't conspire against you.

jdavis@dailyherald.com