REDFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A mother who got stuck Monday in a dangerous pileup of cars on an icy overpass in Redford Township had to react quickly to get herself, and her young daughter, to safety.
Bianca Barber was one of many people who unsuspectingly drove up onto an overpass on Telegraph Road at Schoolcraft Road, above I-96, only to be met with black ice and continuously crashing vehicles Monday night. The overpass was icy due to cold, wet, and windy conditions, taking drivers by surprise as they rounded a turn on the raised roadway.
When Barber and her 4-year-old daughter crashed, she knew they had to get out of the car and off the bridge right away.
“I undid her seatbelt, got her out. As soon as I got her out, a car smacked into us. We fell,” Barber told Local 4 after the crash. “We thought we were gonna be dead, because once the car smacked, it pushed us down to the ground.
“There were two girls in front of me. I could tell they were in a state of shock. And I just kept telling them ... ‘You’ve got to get out of the car. Get out. Get out.’ And she was just panicking.”
See footage from the scene in the video report below.
Once they were out of the car, Barber had to move quickly to keep her and her daughter safe. The pair were pinned between the wall and multiple vehicles, so Barber put her daughter on top of a truck, expecting to climb over it.
“As soon as I put her up, another car smacked. I put her down under the vehicle, and had to snatch her out from under the tire before the next car smacked into us,” Barber said.
All they could hear was the popping and smashing of vehicles crashing into one another. Officials say up to 20 vehicles were ultimately involved in the crash.
Barber said she then scooped her daughter up and tossed her daughter out of harm’s way, and was able to jump over a truck and get away. Her shoulder and leg were injured in the process, and her daughter was cut on the back of her head.
Both of them went to the hospital Monday night.
Several people were injured in the multi-vehicle crash. Officials said no one was killed, but that many people were banged up -- though most of the injuries appeared to be minor.
Several of the vehicles were totaled in the crash, as well.
The roadway was closed overnight Dec. 18 into Tuesday, Dec. 19 as authorities worked to clean up the crash. The Michigan Department of Transportation was also at the site Monday night to check the structural integrity of the wall lining the bridge.
The overpass was open to traffic again early Tuesday morning.