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BELOIT, Wisconsin — On January 27, on her way to Tennessee, Jewelene Porter found herself in a life-or-death situation.
“In no time at all, it was just a wall of cars, so it looked like hundreds to me,” Porter said.
She said she began to turn in an attempt to fend off other vehicles stuck in a pileup.
“The next thing I knew, my car had hit a stationary semitrailer,” Porter said.
Porter was one of more than 85 drivers who piled up on I-39/90 last Friday due to winter weather.
Porter said he suffered facial injuries and was shocked when he was hit by a semi-trailer truck.
“I don’t know if the airbag hit the side of my face or the actual door glass,” Porter said.
This wasn’t the end of what seemed like a terrifying nightmare for Porter.
“Van, bang, bang, bang, bang and all these other vehicles slammed into me on the passenger side and it just kept going,” Porter said.
Things eventually calmed down and paramedics helped Porter crawl out the passenger window.
“He saw me bleeding and injured and had to climb over the center counsel to get me out,” Porter said. I was sitting in his truck.”
Mr. Porter said his car was a total loss and he was one of many drivers waiting to hear from the insurance company.
She lives in Tennessee but often returns to the Janesville, Wisconsin area to care for sick family members. She said she was worried that without her own car, she would have to part with her one of the two.
“I want to go back and forth with my illness and be with my family, but that’s the reality,” Porter said.
Porter’s car was a total loss, but many others were recoverable.
Jeff Jacobson, owner of Brothers Autobody and Repair, says it can take time to fix a car.
“Now we’re about a month, a month and a half apart. Usually we’re on vacation for about a month,” Jacobson says.
Jacobson said it could take longer depending on the damage and parts that need to be ordered.
“No. One car waits for $2 parts. You’ll have to wait for several parts,” Jacobson said. “He had to Google the part number and hunt around.”
These are issues affecting auto repair shops in Wisconsin, and it’s important that drivers bring their cars to shops they trust, he said.
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