DRIVENby teamwork.
Quick thinking by two Jetco drivers averts disaster in freeway accident
Jeanne Fralicks had taken the same route along Interstate 20 to her job at the city of Duncanville, Texas, for more than 10 years.
But the morning of Aug. 29 was different than any she’d experienced in recent memory. As Fralicks was driving along I-20 on her way to work, her truck was hit from the side by another motorist and spun around facing the oncoming traffic.
After the spin, Fralick’s vehicle was facing an 18-wheeler driven by Jetco Delivery driver James Wyatt.
“He had been paying attention to everything that was happening in front of him and reacted quickly,” Fralicks remembered. “If he hadn’t, I don’t think I’d be here today.”
After the vehicles came to a stop, Wyatt and fellow Jetco driver Santa Uzomaka made sure all of the people involved in the collision were OK and helped Fralicks turn her car back around so it was facing the right direction.
“I called 911 on my cellphone but I was so rattled at that point that James talked to the police to tell them everything was OK,” Fralicks said. “Then they stayed until both police cars arrived so they could provide all of the witness information.”
Wyatt and Uzomaka, who have been traveling the same route from the Jetco headquarters in Houston to Grand Prairie for several months, said they follow the same routine everyday in their jobs and that the safety training they’ve received at the company prepares them for most every eventuality.
“There’s a sign at the gate when we’re leaving Jetco that we see each morning,” Wyatt said. “It says ‘Follow the car in front of you as though your family and loved ones are in it.’ Santa and I both take that to heart every day. Safety is just a part of our job that we take very seriously.”
Uzomaka said their safety training also prepared each of the drivers to be cognizant of what’s happening ahead of them on the road at all times so they can react appropriately.
“Yes, we’re making deliveries for our customers but we understand it’s most important to be safe no matter where we are and what we’re doing,” Uzomaka said. “That benefits our customers as well as the public and that’s what it’s all about.”
For her part, Fralicks said she was impressed with both drivers’ sense of calm in what she considered a pretty frantic experience.
“I was touched not only by their professionalism but with their caring attitude,” she said. “They wanted to make sure we were OK first and foremost. I’m really grateful to both of them.”