Pregnant driver cheats death after girder smashes through windscreen but misses her by THREE INCHES because she's only 4ft 11

Lucky: Kelli Chapman escaped death when a girder fell off the side of a lorry


A mother-to-be cheated death when a giant steel girder smashed into her car - because she is so tiny.

Petite Kelli Chapman, just 4ft 11ins, was waiting at traffic lights when the 30ft steel girder fell from a passing lorry.

It ripped open her red Volkswagen Golf GTi "like a tin can" - but Kelli, 26, walked away unscathed as the girder shot through the windscreen over her head.

Crash experts said if she had been just three inches taller she would have been killed instantly by the the one and a half tonnes of steel.

Kelli, who is three months pregnant, even managed to keep a cool head and call her father PC Rob Chapman from inside the crushed vehicle to ask for help.

PC Chapman said: 'Kelli called me and said "Dad, some metal has fallen on my car"

'But when I arrived at the scene I was just stunned.
'I could not believe what I was seeing. It was carnage. If she was not such a petite girl she would be dead.

'If she had been any taller - or even if if her car had been three inches closer to the kerb - the girder would have hit her directly on the head.'

Community safety officer Mr Chapman said: 'The car is a complete write-off but, incredibly, Kelli walked away without a cut.
'She is so incredibly lucky. It really was a miracle.'


Damage: The 26-year-old walked away unscathed after the girder shot through the windscreen of her Volkswagen Golf GTi and over her head


Office worker Kelli was heading home for lunch when the lorry took a corner in the centre of Ammanford, South Wales.

The giant truck owned by a civil engineering firm carrying a haul of girders for building work turned the corner - and Kelli saw the metal girder start to move.

Kelli said: 'I saw it begin to move and the girder came crashing down on her car.

'I'm really shaken and very battered and bruised.

'It happened so suddenly. I was trapped inside. But I phoned my dad and he helped get me out.

'I'm OK and so is my baby. I'm so lucky.'


source: dailymail