NORTH OGDEN, Utah (AP) – Sarah Crenshaw was edging along a familiar mountain road when her SUV hit a patch of black ice and slid over a precipice.
“I started praying, ‘Don’t let me die on Christmas,'” the Utah woman later told the Standard-Examiner (http://bit.ly/1VpEmk7).
Crenshaw, 48, survived the 320-foot tumble into a ravine on the morning of Dec. 20, escaping with only minor injuries. She recounted the harrowing experience in an interview this week with the Ogden newspaper.
Crenshaw had driven the stretch of road hundreds of times and was being cautious in that morning’s foggy snowstorm. She had her Jeep Liberty in four-wheel drive and low gear, and a Weber County Sheriff’s Office report estimated she was going only about 20 mph.
“I was creeping around the corner, and it was like someone sprayed black ice,” Crenshaw said. “The next thing I know, my car was sliding toward the embankment, but sliding parallel. I was still aimed in the right direction but just slid off and over the edge, and I could see it coming.”