When John Graham was facilitating a manufacturing workshop in Winkler on Monday, one of the participants arrived late, and shared a story in the break about helping a motorist in peril on Highway 32 south of the city.
Graham said, if the story had an unhappy ending, it would have made the news, but in this case, it was good news.
He asked Jeff Wiebe what radio station his family listened to, because he wanted to share some good news of what happened. Graham reached out to PembinaValleyOnline, and we were able to connect with Wiebe to get his first hand account of what happened.
"As we got to the Schanzenfeld corner, just over that little hill, I noticed the wheel fly off into the ditch. The car was kind of skidding in the middle of the highway, so I pulled up in front of her, then I pulled off to the side, and I just backed up to her. I asked her if she was alright. She looked scared."
Wiebe said the young girl didn't really seem to know what had happened.
"She said, 'My car just kind of stalled out here, and I don't know what's wrong with it.' She looked a little bit terrified, and I said, 'Well, you just lost your wheel.'"
He said it could have been a lot worse.
"There was on-coming traffic. It is a very good thing the wheel didn't veer to the left, because it was the driver's side. It could have gone into an on-coming car, but the tire had a funny hop, and it just went straight into the ditch instead of into on-coming traffic."
Wiebe sprang into action.
"We got her car started, so she could stay warm. She had left it in drive, so at first it didn't start, so I just put it in park for her, so it started, and she could at least stay warm. I drove into the ditch with my truck, and I took out the tow rope. The traffic was not slowing down at all, both lanes were kind of flying by, and she was in the middle of the road. So, I hooked up to the rim, and I pushed her off to the side of the road where she could be safe."
"My message would be to everyone, if you see someone on the side of the road, slow down, ask if they need help. There was nobody stopping. That type of thing needs to be done more often, as we can get into that situation, as well. You don't know what to do, and if there's someone to help, it definitely makes it easier."
The unknown driver called someone to come pick her up. After Wiebe retrieved the tire from the neighbouring yard, he went on his way back to his scheduled workshop in Winkler, a little late.
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