by Mike Crowson
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The red estate fairly flew along the road near Medina, speeding far above the limit and ignoring the 'no overtaking' signs and road markers as no Spanish driver would have done. The accident rate is high in Spain and Spanish drivers have their faults, but ignoring a 'no overtaking' sign on a country road is not usually one of them. Too many roads wind round totally blind bends with sheer drops to the sea or a river below, for drivers not to take warnings seriously. Instead Spanish cars tend to hang onto the tail of the vehicle in front, driving dangerously close, until there is a suitable spot to overtake. This kind of 'tailgating' has its own potential dangers, of course, but they are lesser ones than risky overtaking.
The bend itself was not that steep and the drop to the river not that far, but the road dipped as well. Overtaking the tractor on a fairly good road like that was not so great a risk. Even ignoring the 'no overtaking' sign was not all that risky - but there was an element of danger. The gravel truck only hit the car a glancing blow: the road was three cars wide and the accident only occurred at all because two of the vehicles were wide commercial ones.
If the car had been travelling less fast it would not have spun out of control, as it did. But it was moving fast. Far above the speed limit. It hit the edge of the road sideways on and turned completely over as it left the road. It smashed sideways into a tree - the jolt broke Stella's neck - and came to rest at a drunken angle in a field.
The tractor driver drove on and called the police from a roadside bar a couple of miles away. The police took a look at the wreckage and called an ambulance and a rescue truck.
Stella had died instantly from the jolt as the car impacted the tree but, surprisingly, the others escaped any serious injury. Ian simply opened the door and stepped out. Cornelius had to squeeze out, helped by Ian. It was impossible for Ian and Cornelius to free Juliana and Stella was dead.
The whole top of the car had to be sawn away and before the resuers could reach Juliana and, even then, she had to be cut free. However, when she was finally pulled out of the wreckage she showed no sign of injury, beyond a crushed leg which was broken in several places and general cuts and bruises.
Both Ian and the ambulance crew were afraid that there might have been internal injuries, especially as she seemed to have been so crushed and trapped. In the end, Ian went with her to hopital.
Cornelius went with the police to Medina Sidonia.