This morning while driving to visit a teacher he has known since he was 5-years-old, Doug Landau travelled over a patch of black ice and skidded into the barriers and cables on a road curve. Narrowly missing a telephone pole, the Prius hybrid 4-door car skidded off the roadway, flipped in midair, struck the roof on some trees, and miraculously landed some 30 feet below, right side up !

When the car came to rest, Landau looked around. There was an inch or two of snow on the ground. It was 21 degrees outside, but his breath was not smoking, as none of the windows were even cracked. There was no glass, no airbag deployment or propellent. He did not perceive any fluids leaking. He unclasped the seat belt and checked himself over. No bleeding, fractures, pain, dizziness or even abrasions. Landau managed to open the door against the snow and brush, clamber up the steep embankment, in order to get away in case the car might have a gas leak and explode.

Once up on street level, Landau was able to speak to the drivers of the two other vehicles that had already stopped. His car was not visible from the road, but there were tire tracks and a debris field leading to the Prius. There had been a small snow plow following him that indicated they saw his brake lights go on, but that the Prius kept going straight as the road curved to the left down the steep hill into town. They thought whoever was in the Prius was “a goner” if he hit the pole, a tree head-on or landed on his roof. Luckily for lawyer Landau, none of those fatal events happened. Instead, the other drivers’ passengers had already called the police, because they had seen his car disappear off the side of the road and did not know he was able to climb out and up the steep slope to safety in front of their trucks !

As luck would have it, the State Police were just 1,000 yards down the road protecting some utility work. They were at the scene within minutes, as was the ambulance and wrecker. The car could not be towed out by a regular tow truck. A wrecker with a long cable pulled the car up and out, and then loaded on the flat bed. Landau underwent a thorough physical and neurological exam. He exhibited no elevated heart rate, blood pressure, breathing or abnormal eye movements or sizes. There were no bruises, spasm, scratches, deformities, nausea or painful movements. Released after a time, Landau helped the State Police complete their report.

As Landau sat in one of the State Trooper’s cruisers in order to stay warm until his brother could take him home, the law enforcement officer noted there had been several similar crashes that day and that the Virginia injury lawyer was extremely lucky to have emerged uninjured. Landau was then able to get a ride with friends to the tow yard to finish paper work and then on to continue his trip South via his sister’s home. He is to be trying a disability case in the District of Columbia tomorrow afternoon for a client with severe cardiac compromise. Stay tuned for updates.