Woman Survives Harrowing SUV Rollover Accident

May 25, 2006 — -- Emily Bowness was hoping to go to a Pearl Jam concert on Monday night.

After surviving a harrowing car accident -- in which her sport utility vehicle rolled over 12 times -- that afternoon, Bowness, 29, of Grand Rapids, Mich., opted for a quiet evening instead.

She was treated and released from Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Mich., which is amazing considering that the dramatic accident looked like it was going to be fatal.

Bowness fractured the tip of her thumb, bruised her ribs, and suffered a gash on the back of her head. The head injury has made it difficult for her to sleep, but aside from that, she is doing very well.

Deputy Kimberly Potts of the Oakland County, Mich., sheriff's office, who captured the video of the accident on her dash cam, pulled over when she saw the accident occur, and was shocked to see Bowness in such good condition.

"I can honestly say the seatbelt saved her life," Potts said.

Bowness, who is from Detroit originally, says she makes the same trip on Interstate 96 almost every week to visit friends and family. Nothing was unusual about the trip until a car started heading toward her 2003 Ford Explorer.

"I was in the left lane, just minding my business, and I looked over to the right and there was a car coming right into my lane," she said. "I really had zero seconds to think about it. It was kind of a reflex. I jerked the wheel, swerved left."

Bowness isn't sure what happened next -- whether she hit something in the median or the car hit her.

"There was a lot of force to the whole movement left, though," she said. "So I don't know if there was actually an impact that made me go back a little bit. I think I overcorrected not knowing what else to do. I was doing 75 [mph]. It was just fast."

Accident reconstruction expert Chuck Pemberton, who viewed a video of the accident, says that if Bowness "had countersteered to the left just like you do when you're on a slippery roadway because of snow or ice, it would have been possible for her to get the vehicle stable again." However, she did just the opposite and flipped over.