Driver ‘lucky to be alive’
CARE worker Coleen Coombs has described how she is lucky to be alive after a motorist tried to squeeze between two vehicles on a mountain road.
A WOMAN has described how she is lucky to be alive after a motorist tried to squeeze between two vehicles on a mountain road.
Hair-raising footage of the incident shows the moment care worker Coleen Coombs is forced to swerve out of the way to avoid a car overtaking on the Rhigos Mountain in Rhondda Cynon Taff.
In the video, Coleen’s car is seen travelling down the road on Monday afternoon with a white van travelling in the opposite direction.
But a split-second before the vehicles pass, a dark-coloured car is seen trying to squeeze between the two – causing the 55-year-old to veer off the side of the road.
Coleen, from Treherbert, said: “I didn’t realise how close it was until I saw the video.
“I was going around the bend and the next moment there was a van and [the car] popped up behind it.
“Then it was straight in front of me.
“He swerved like an S shape to get in front of the van.
“I just thought that was it, that was the end.”
Luckily, Coleen escaped the incident without injury but believes the van travelling in the opposite direction may have been damaged.
She said: “I didn’t know what I was doing. It was lucky I didn’t crash into the mountain.
“The van he overtook could have quite easily gone over the side or they could have smashed into the car behind me with children in. Luckily everyone braked on time.
“It’s only sinking in now.”
Coleen, who has recently moved to the area, has said the incident has left her questioning her daily commute to work in Aberdare.
She said: “It was just total stupidity, he was taking his own life into his hands.
“He should be taken off the road.
“It’s making me think if I should get work on this end. I like my work over there [Aberdare] but I’m certainly thinking twice.
“There needs to be more signs on the sevenmile stretch of road or a camera. They go up here like crazy.”