It’s a truly remarkable story. The incredible escape and survival of a Texas truck driver has captured the attention of the state, as he recounts his experience with the fiery blaze that surrounded him.
Shayne Goffe, a tractor-trailer driver, was on his fifth and final delivery shift—transporting gasoline and diesel to nearby gas stations. Goffe had just pulled onto Interstate 30 and was driving east into Dallas at around 1:30 a.m. According to KHOU, “he had barely gotten up to speed on the freeway when a merging car pushed another truck into vehicle”.
The highway collision caused Goffe’s tanker to overturn and continue to slide down the freeway.
“When I opened my eyes, these were my exact words: ‘I’m not giving up! I’m not giving up! I’m not giving up!’”, the 35-year-old truck driver recalled.
Within seconds, Goffe had to make a quick escape through the scattered windshield—at the same time roughly 8,750 gallons of gasoline and diesel behind him ignited. “It’s like an atomic boom,” Goffe said.
The truck driver certainly was a bit shaken, but amazingly walked away without a single broken bone. Goffe couldn’t believe his good fortune and Texas paramedics rushed him to the hospital.
Goffe told KHOU that he remembered asking the emergency crew if he was alive, “’Am I alive?’ He said “Yes, you are very much alive’ and I said to him, ‘If I’m alive, just touch me’ and he held my hand the entire way after that”.
The Texas Department of Transportation reported that several hundred feet of asphalt – on all eight lanes of Interstate 30 – were charred. The roadway will have to be removed and replaced.
Miraculously, no one involved was seriously injured in the highway inferno—a reason for us all to be thankful.
All of us at Dagley Insurance are happy to share this incredible story of survival and second chances; it gives us all a chance to reflect upon our lives and be thankful for each and every day!
You can view footage, courtesy of KHOU, below:
