Alert Dump Truck Driver Credited With Preventing Serious Crash With Sleepy Motorist

STANISLAUS COUNTY (CBS13) – Officers are congratulating a dump truck driver whose alertness helped prevent a direct head-on crash in rural Stanislaus County early Tuesday morning.

The crash happened around 4 a.m. near S. Carpenter Road and W. Main Avenue, in between Patterson and Turlock.

California Highway Patrol's Modesto division says a car was heading down the road when the driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel and veered into oncoming lanes. A dump truck was headed right for the car, but the driver of that vehicle managed to steer right to avoid the worst of the crash.

Officers say the car only ended up hitting the side of the dump truck.

Despite being pinned in their car, officers say the driver who fell asleep at the wheel only suffered a broken ankle.