Rosary helps driver cheat death

[Rosalinda]

There was a great story in our local newspaper, Friday, entitled, “Driver says rosary helped him cheat death” by Jack Poirier.

"Kevin Vilaca believes divine intervention is behind his new reputation as the man who cheated death.

The 28-year-old Centralia man credits a wooden rosary from Fatima, Portugal that his grandmother gave him and the big guy upstairs for his escape unscathed from a horrific train collision near Wyoming (Ontario, Canada) Thursday.

“I shouldn’t have walked away from it,” Vilaca told The Observer. “Thank goodness, I had the rosary my grandmother gave me.”

The swine veterinarian cheated death when the 2001 Ford Ranger he was driving to a client’s farm crumpled quicker than a pop can under the weight and momentum of a passing freight train on Minielly Road.

Vilaca said he was driving slowly, but once the truck hit black ice near the crossing, there was no stopping.

"I basically just said, ‘I’m screwed,’ " Vilaca recalled, “I thought I was going to die.”

continues…

 

[Alison]

Wow! Please continue the story.

 

[Rosalinda]

"The slow skid into a massive freight engine gave Vilaca a few seconds to think how he could minimize serious injury.

Perhaps it was the defensive driving course his father made him take as a youngster, but Vilaca said he decided to turn the crawling vehicle’s driver’s side into the travelling direction of the train.

The engine ripped away the cab section inches away from his face, sending the truck spinning backwards into the train’s second engine.

Hearing a painful crunching of metal and popping of shattering glass, Vilaca closed his eyes. When he opened them, the truck, now just an intact cab surrounded by twisted metal, was teetering on tis driver’s side in a ditch.

After some quick, sober reflection as to what he had just survived, Vilaca shimmied out the passenger side of the vehicle.

“It was leaking fluid and I thought I better get the hell out of there,” he said.

It wasn’t until he scanned the damage as the truck was hoisted on a tow truck that the magnitude of the impact hit him."…

 

[Rosalinda]

“The truck was obliterated. The scariest part was seeing the damage and wondering how I managed to walk away,” he said.

Vilaca’s only injuries were a small bump on his head and a sore finger.

“I guess between the air bags and the seat belt I was pretty much tucked in,” he said.

Lambton OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) Const. John Reurink said he has seen collisions like this before and almost always the results are tragic.

“Considering the damage, it’s amazig (Vilaca) was able to walk away,” Reurink said…

After the collision he (Vilaca) retrieved his wooden rosary, still hanging from the truck’s rear view mirror.

“Someone was looking out for me, that’s for sure,” he said. “Everyone keeps telling me to buy a lottery ticket. I think I’ll go to church.”

 

[luvthelight]

" “Everyone keeps telling me to buy a lottery ticket. I think I’ll go to church.”

what an amazing story - and i love this line!

 

[Flopfoot]

That’s a great story.
Often when I’m driving I have 2 sets of rosary beads, 1 around my rear vision mirror and 1 in my pocket. But neither is blessed or from Fatima or anything.
Would you believe some police around here want to fine people for having rosary beads around their rear vision mirrors due to obstruction of vision?!

 

[Jeanette_L]

Flopfoot:

That’s a great story.
Often when I’m driving I have 2 sets of rosary beads, 1 around my rear vision mirror and 1 in my pocket. But neither is blessed or from Fatima or anything.
Would you believe some police around here want to fine people for having rosary beads around their rear vision mirrors due to obstruction of vision?!

I bet they don’t complain about the fuzzy dice though, huh?