The driver of a Mazda Tribute managed to escape almost completely unscathed when his small SUV tangled with a double-trailer Peterbilt semi truck at the intersection of Highway 10 and 192 Street near the Langley-Surrey border around 3 p.m. on Tuesday (Nov. 1).
The force of the crash flipped the Mazda on its roof and sent it skidding into a utility pole, flattening a directional sign in the process.
The Peterbilt dented its front bumper, but the big rig appeared otherwise undamaged.
The driver of the Mazda, who asked not to be identified, remained at the scene to await a tow truck.
He told the Times that he ended up hanging upside down, his head banging against the partly crushed roof, suspended by his seatbelt and trapped by the crushed driver's side door until fire crews got the passenger side door open and extracted him.
He escaped with a few small scrapes to his left arm and leg.
When one eyewitness called the driver lucky, the man observed that he would have felt truly lucky if he'd managed to avoid the collision altogether.
Still, he was grateful for escaping without serious injury and pleasantly surprised at the ability of the small Mazda to take such punishment.
The crash slowed traffic along the Langley Bypass into into Surrey for about an hour.