Driving your own car is like knowing a friend for years. You know how smooth (or not so smooth) it drives. You know all its little quirks. All the tiny sounds, habits and peculiarities of your vehicle are obvious to you, and you get to know them really well when you drive a lot! Like on a really cold day when the temperature dips below -9, I know my car won’t work. She’s a stubborn old car, and won’t start even if I keep trying and trying and trying. Now, if it’s -8 the car will turn on, no problem!
We get so used to driving our own cars that it becomes second nature. It’s when we get too comfortable that things have a habit of going wrong when we least expect it.
Mary Watkins, 87-years-old, her son Larry and her Chihuahua Cantinflas jumped in the for an exciting day ahead! They were headed to Alamitos Bay Marina in Long Branch, California, USA, to spend a few hours on the water, in a boat. What better way to spend the day in the sun! Unfortunately, things became a little more complicated when Larry’s medical boot got stuck in the vehicle’s gas pedal. Larry had recently undergone foot surgery and was recovering at home. Perhaps feeling like he needed to get out of the house, he, his mother and dog set out to get some fresh air, but little did they know what would happen next.
With Larry’s boot tangled up with the pedal, the red truck veered off the road, smashed the guardrail and headed straight into the water! In what I imagine was a terrifying moment for everyone inside the vehicle, nearby onlookers immediately responded. A handful of good samaritans and a lifeguard came to their rescue as the truck slowly began to submerge.
Jeff Perez was one of the rescuers who jumped in immediately. “And no sooner did I hop in the water, the lifeguard captain was handing over the older lady to me,” he told CBS Los Angeles. No one was hurt in this freak accident, and Mary had only kind words to say about the fast-acting bystanders. “I said, ‘Boys I’m 87-years-old, be very careful,'” Watkins said. “And they were, my hair’s still dry and they didn’t even mess up my lipstick.”
Click below to watch the actual footage of the truck fly over the edge into the water.
