Melton trucker helps free driver from wrecked Jeep; honored by TCA

Updated Oct 3, 2022
Truck driver

A trucker from Florida was recently honored for his actions at the scene of a rollover accident on a rain-soaked interstate. 

The Truckload Carriers Association recently named truck driver Marty Smith, from Orlando, Florida, a Highway Angel for rescuing a driver after his vehicle hydroplaned on a rainy highway, flipping and trapping him inside. Smith drives for Melton Truck Lines in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

TCA explains:

In early September 2022, Smith was driving on Interstate 70 in Colorado around 2 p.m. and encountered heavy rain. He witnessed a Jeep SUV, after just passing him, hydroplane into the center median, where it flipped multiple times.

Screen Shot 2022 09 30 At 3 41 14 Pm“It was raining like crazy,” Smith said, adding that he pulled over immediately to help the driver. “I put on my hazards and I ran across the road – that was the dangerous part because nobody was slowing down.”

Upon getting to the crashed Jeep, Smith discovered the vehicle was on its side and the driver was trapped. Smith ran back to grab his gloves to help pry the front windshield open, while the driver was kicking it from the inside. Between Smith’s pulling of the windshield and the Jeep driver kicking it, the windshield popped out.

Smith got the driver out of the crashed vehicle. He was dazed and confused but didn’t appear to sustain any significant injuries. Just as Smith rescued the driver, police arrived on the scene.

Since the program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,300 professional truck drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job. Thanks to the program’s presenting sponsor, EpicVue, and supporting sponsor, DriverFacts, TCA is able to showcase outstanding drivers like Mr. Smith.