Driving and Bad Backs

Byron Spires

Published in

The Southern Voice

5 min readAug 15, 2024

Things that happened to you in the past have a way of catching up with you later in life.

For me, it happened in the summer of 1974.

I had been fishing with my friend Marvin Locke in the Apalachicola River just below the dam in Chattahoochee, Florida.

We dodged rain showers as they came across the river valley the whole afternoon. In spite of the rain, we managed to catch several nice bass below the train trestle. It had been a good afternoon to fish drifting along past the abandoned barges that cluttered the side of the river, creating eddies where the fish would congregate.

When we got back to Marvin’s house in the late afternoon we cleaned and divided up our catch. By the time I left his house, it was starting to get dark.

Instead of going down US 90 home I decided to cut across back roads to home.

Interstate 10 was under construction at the time, and I had to cross it where they were building an overpass. A few minutes before I got to the construction, it had come one of those rains we had missed earlier in the day.

They were building the bridge over the interstate so the road I was on had been diverted around the construction.

I do not remember exactly what happened. What I do remember is slowing down to make the detour around the construction. The next thing I remember is the car starting to slide sideways on the slick pavement.

I hit a temporary culvert. My next memory was of the car as it started rolling over and over. I ended up being thrown through the windshield and landing on the pavement as the car completed its last roll.

At the time, I was in a daze for a minute or two, so I just sat there looking at the car. It was a dark and eerily quiet, which added to the drama of the moment.

I was both shocked and surprised that I had been thrown from the car without being killed. It was certainly a miracle.

After I gathered my wits, I got up and surveyed my vehicle. It now looked like a rounded cigar. The windshield was lying next to me, flat on the pavement in one solid piece. It was covered in cracks but ironically still together.

After what seemed much longer, however, in reality, it was only five minutes. A car drove by, and I waved it down. My car was sitting upright in the middle of the road with four flat tires.

The person in the car got out and asked if I was all right. I was still in shock, I guess, so I told him I thought I was OK.

This was before cell phones, so he went to a nearby house and called the Florida Highway Patrol. Luckily there happened to be a trooper nearby who drove up in less than ten minutes.

He checked me over with his flashlight, and except for some scratches, I appeared to be OK.

It happened to be a trooper I knew, and he suggested I go to the emergency room to be checked out. The guy that I waved down came back to check on me and offered to take me to the hospital.

At the emergency room, they checked me over again and took x-rays. No broken bones, only a few scratches on my arms and side, probably from going through the windshield. At this point, I was starting to feel some pain.

The trooper had told me he would take care of the car and bring my personal item to the hospital where he would write the report.

Turns out I had rolled the car four times. He told me that in all the wrecks he had seen where someone was thrown in front of the car and then the car rolled over them. In my case, however, I had been thrown out behind the car, a real miracle.

The doctor warned me that I would probably have back issues from landing on my tailbone on the pavement starting in my fifties. I was so sore for the next few days that I could hardly walk.

He was right about the back problems.

In my fifties, it started to bother me, and to this day, I still have hip and leg issues. So far, none have led to surgery, but you never know.

I got a ticket for failure to have my vehicle under control. The car was totaled and to this day fifty years later I still don’t know exactly what happened.

The judge, who I also knew, made me an offer. He gave me the choice of a $15 fine or taking a defensive driving course. He actually suggested I take the course.

So, I opted for the course. If anything good came from that wreck, it was taking that class. I cannot tell you how often the information I learned in that Saturday morning class has saved my life.

I learned two things that I still do to this day in that course. I always hug the outside of the lane to give myself room in the event of someone driving on the wrong side of the road. While driving, I am constantly looking for an escape route to avoid an accident.

A month ago, as my wife and I were headed home, someone exited the interstate and never slowed down. They were turning left and came over into my lane (the outside lane). I anticipated them doing just that and tried to give them room.

The problem was that it was on an overpass, and to my right was a guard rail. As you can imagine, there was not a lot of room to work with.

I was hit in the parking lane on the bridge. Thankfully, it was a glancing blow right behind the cab of the truck. The lady driver it turned out, was headed to the restroom and never saw me. She admitted it was her fault.

Two things could have happened if I had not been aware of my surroundings. I could have been hit in the driver’s side of my truck or, even worse, went over the side of the embankment of the bridge. Which, at the time, my wife was concerned about.

So, watch where you are going and what is happening around you.

Driving and Bad Backs

Things that happened to you in the past have a way of catching up with you later in life.

For me, it happened in the summer of 1974.

I had been fishing with my friend Marvin Locke in the Apalachicola River just below the dam in Chattahoochee, Florida.

When we got back to Marvin’s house in the late afternoon we cleaned and divided up our catch. By the time I left his house, it was starting to get dark.

Instead of going down US 90 home I decided to cut across back roads to home.

Interstate 10 was under construction at the time, and I had to cross it where they were building an overpass. A few minutes before I got to the construction, it had come one of those rains we had missed earlier in the day.

They were building the bridge over the interstate so the road I was on had been diverted around the construction.

I do not remember exactly what happened. What I do remember is slowing down to make the detour around the construction. The next thing I remember is the car starting to slide sideways on the slick pavement.

I hit a temporary culvert. My next memory was of the car as it started rolling over and over. I ended up being thrown through the windshield and landing on the pavement as the car completed its last roll.

At the time, I was in a daze for a minute or two, so I just sat there looking at the car. It was a dark and eerily quiet, which added to the drama of the moment.

I was both shocked and surprised that I had been thrown from the car without being killed. It was certainly a miracle.

After I gathered my wits, I got up and surveyed my vehicle. It now looked like a rounded cigar. The windshield was lying next to me, flat on the pavement in one solid piece. It was covered in cracks but ironically still together.

After what seemed much longer, however, in reality, it was only five minutes. A car drove by, and I waved it down. My car was sitting upright in the middle of the road with four flat tires.

The person in the car got out and asked if I was all right. I was still in shock, I guess, so I told him I thought I was OK.

This was before cell phones, so he went to a nearby house and called the Florida Highway Patrol. Luckily there happened to be a trooper nearby who drove up in less than ten minutes.

He checked me over with his flashlight, and except for some scratches, I appeared to be OK.

It happened to be a trooper I knew, and he suggested I go to the emergency room to be checked out. The guy that I waved down came back to check on me and offered to take me to the hospital.

At the emergency room, they checked me over again and took x-rays. No broken bones, only a few scratches on my arms and side, probably from going through the windshield. At this point, I was starting to feel some pain.

The trooper had told me he would take care of the car and bring my personal item to the hospital where he would write the report.

Turns out I had rolled the car four times. He told me that in all the wrecks he had seen where someone was thrown in front of the car and then the car rolled over them. In my case, however, I had been thrown out behind the car, a real miracle.

The doctor warned me that I would probably have back issues from landing on my tailbone on the pavement starting in my fifties. I was so sore for the next few days that I could hardly walk.

He was right about the back problems.

In my fifties, it started to bother me, and to this day, I still have hip and leg issues. So far, none have led to surgery, but you never know.

I got a ticket for failure to have my vehicle under control. The car was totaled and to this day fifty years later I still don’t know exactly what happened.

The judge, who I also knew, made me an offer. He gave me the choice of a $15 fine or taking a defensive driving course. He actually suggested I take the course.

So, I opted for the course. If anything good came from that wreck, it was taking that class. I cannot tell you how often the information I learned in that Saturday morning class has saved my life.

I learned two things that I still do to this day in that course. I always hug the outside of the lane to give myself room in the event of someone driving on the wrong side of the road. While driving, I am constantly looking for an escape route to avoid an accident.

A month ago, as my wife and I were headed home, someone exited the interstate and never slowed down. They were turning left and came over into my lane (the outside lane). I anticipated them doing just that and tried to give them room.

The problem was that it was on an overpass, and to my right was a guard rail. As you can imagine, there was not a lot of room to work with.

I was hit in the parking lane on the bridge. Thankfully, it was a glancing blow right behind the cab of the truck. The lady driver it turned out, was headed to the restroom and never saw me. She admitted it was her fault.

Two things could have happened if I had not been aware of my surroundings. I could have been hit in the driver’s side of my truck or, even worse, went over the side of the embankment of the bridge. Which, at the time, my wife was concerned about.

So, watch where you are going and what is happening around you.

Written by Byron Spires