Crash cam video: 'I am extremely lucky,' survivor says

What could have been a devastating rollover accident in Sioux Falls on Tuesday ended with only minor injuries for a fortunate Tea man.

"I am extremely lucky," Daniel Howes, 59, said.

Just before 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Howes was heading home from work on I-229 in his 2000 Ford Ranger when he decided to change lanes. As he did so, he did not see another car coming up from behind him. Howes swerved in a last-minute attempt to avoid crashing into the other car, but ended up crashing into a fence and road sign instead.

"I heard a loud honk (and) I just overshot it and went through the wire," he said. "I didn't know I hit anything until I was in the hospital."

He does not remember much of the crash after that. When he came to, Howes found himself in a terrifying position.

"I was upside down and the truck was on its side," Howes said. "I thought, 'How am I going to get out of this?'"

His head and ankles were stuck, rendering him unable to move.

"I thought, 'I just might die here,'" Howes said.

Howes was taken to the hospital, where his family showed him a picture of the crash that had been posted on Argus 911. The truck had wrapped around a road sign, pretzeled into a U-shape.

"I had no idea what the truck looked like until I saw the picture," Howes said.

Despite the extreme damage to the Ranger, Howes made it out of the crash with relatively minor injuries.

"Surprisingly, I've got no broken bones, no internal damage at all," he said. "I was up and walking by the second day."

Lt. Jeff DeVaney of the South Dakota Highway Patrol said that in a rollover accident, the chance of sustaining serious or fatal injuries is 25 times higher when the person is not wearing a seat belt.

When asked if he is ever surprised when a person survives a horrific crash, DeVaney he's "less surprised when they take all the proper precautions," such as having the seat in the correct position and wearing a properly fitting seat belt .

"I've only had to take a seat belt off one dead person," DeVaney said.

Howes says he has been a stickler for wearing seat belts since he was involved in a crash at 16 years old.

"I've always harped on my kids about wearing their seat belts," he said.

He also wants to use his experience as a warning to others. A video hobbyist, Howes was also able to retrieve a dash cam that had been on during the crash and recorded the fateful moment. He hopes to give it to the Highway Patrol to show others the importance of buckling up.

"I really, really want to encourage the use of seat belts," he said. "Seat belts do save lives."

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