WATCH VIDEO - MARY'S STORY:

Seventeen-year-old Mary Gehrig was driving home from a friend’s house when a storm turned from average to angry. 
The storm was not a problem during the first part of her drive, and she assumed it would stay that way during the half-hour ride home. “I’ve never really been afraid to drive in storms; I’m pretty good with them,” she explained. “I’ve always been fascinated with thunder and lightning.”
Unbeknownst to Mary, a stronger, more violent storm was about to erupt, and conditions grew worse than anyone had anticipated. The typically familiar and uneventful drive was neither of those things that June night.
Strong rotations formed and their herculean strength folded several metal transmission towers in half. Around 15 to 20 minutes into the drive, Mary’s knuckles gripped the wheel as she struggled to see in front of her. During lightning flashes, she saw little white lines in the distance. As she got closer, she realized that those lines were across the road, in her path, and that they were anything but small. 
“I realized I was not going to (be able to) drive over it,” Gehrig recalls. She slammed on the brakes and her car struck the object, which happened to be a high-voltage transmission power line lying in the road. The massive cable stopped Mary’s car in its tracks. The car’s electrical system was damaged, and she was stuck there alone during the storm. 
What happened next was life-changing — but in a good way. Mary picked up her phone and called her parents. When her dad heard that there was a downed power line involved, he told her to stay where she was, not get out of the car, and call 9-1-1.
Fire chief Rich Schock, who was on the scene that night, said, “Those are large transmission lines with a lot of volts in them,” adding that the outcome could have been fatal had Mary gotten out. “Mary did everything right,” he said. If Mary would have gotten out, which she admits she did consider doing at one point, her body could have become the path to ground for the stray voltage, and she could have been electrocuted. 
However, Mary stayed put and she escaped serious injury. The Gehrig family is quick to credit everyone involved with her safe  recovery, and they hope others will learn from her experience.

Source: SafeElectricity.org