Kevin PhillipsAn Arkansas-based truck driver has been named a Highway Angel by the Truckload Carriers Association after he helped a woman following a vehicle rollover.
Kevin Phillips, of Sheridan, Arkansas, was driving in heavy rain on May 22 on Highway 79 when he witnessed a car ahead take a sharp curve too fast and begin to hydroplane. Phillips had to make a quick maneuver to avoid hitting the car, then watched as the car slid off the road into a grassy area, hit a culvert and roll four times, narrowly missing a telephone pole.
The driver of the car, a woman in her 20s, was wearing her seat belt, and by the time Phillips safely pulled over, she had exited her vehicle and came rushing toward him. She was visibly shaken, in shock and had sustained a bad cut on her head.
Phillips called 911, and the woman told him she was a nurse on her way to work. She asked to use his phone to call her parents. He led her to a nearby tree to get out of the rain and held her hand to try to calm her down.
“That scared me to death,” Phillips said, adding that those few moments when the woman lost control of her car right in front of him was the longest ride he’s ever had. “If things had been off by just a couple seconds it would have been a tragedy.”
For his willingness to help, Phillips received a certificate, patch, lapel pin and truck decals. His employer, CalArk International, also received a certificate acknowledging their driver as a Highway Angel. TCA’s Highway Angel program is sponsored by EpicVue.
