Compact car loses slush battle with 18-wheeler

February 28, 2013 at 6:00 a.m. | Updated February 28, 2013 at 6:00 a.m.

Benjamin Kramer, Holts Summit, in the orange hat, watches as a friend uses a log chain to pull Kramer's Chevrolet Cavailer from a ditch after it overturned Wednesday morning on U.S. 54. The car was pulled out on Route NN, an access road next to U.S. 54. Kramer said he lost control in slush after a semi truck passed him in the northbound lane of U.S. 54.
Benjamin Kramer, Holts Summit, in the orange hat, watches as a friend uses a log chain to pull Kramer's Chevrolet Cavailer from a ditch after it overturned Wednesday morning on U.S. 54. The car was pulled out on Route NN, an access road next to U.S. 54. Kramer said he lost control in slush after a semi truck passed him in the northbound lane of U.S. 54.

In the highway snow slush battle early Wednesday between Benjamin Kramer's compact car and an 18-wheeled transport truck, Kramer lost.

Kramer, a Holts Summit resident, was traveling north on U.S. 54 at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday just south of Fulton when a big transport truck roared past him, covering his little compact Chevrolet Cavalier coupe with snow slush.

Kramer said he struggled with his car and attempted to change lanes but his Cavalier hit pile of slush created in the wake of the passing 18-wheeler.

Suddenly, Kramer lost control of his car as it skidded in the slush pile kicked up by the passing truck. Kramer's compact car slid off the road, plunged down an embankment, overturned and came to rest on its top.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.