Video shows local Uber driver’s narrow escape from head-on crash with I-75 wrong-way driver

WARREN COUNTY — An Uber driver shared startling video as he just missed colliding with a car going the wrong way on I-75.

Gary Winterbotham of Centerville had been driving for Uber when around 3 a.m. Sunday he suddenly saw headlights in his lane.

“I go, ‘oh my gosh, that’s a car,’” he said.

He was in the center lane of northbound I-75 just past Middletown. He had just passed a driver to the right, when Winterbotham abruptly honked his horn and both drivers swerved.

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Winterbotham said he remembers a report saying natural reaction for drivers is to go right to avoid a wrong-way collision, and he went right to hopefully swerve away from the path of the oncoming car.

That he could have died in a crash, “went through my mind,” he said.

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He said the video angle is a little misleading because they only missed each other by a few feet.

After the near miss, Winterbotham pulled over and watched the other driver pull into the median and go the right way.

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This happened just a week after a wrong-way driver on southbound I-75 killed a Mason family of three in Moraine.

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According to statistics, most wrong-way crashes happen in the lane closest to the median.

If you face a wrong-way driver, slow down and move the the right without slamming on the brakes.

Honk your horn, flash your headlines, turn on your hazards and pull over as soon as possible to call 9-1-1.

Winterbotham is grateful he remembered the guidelines, and said he’s more than just lucky: “I have a guardian angel.”

The Lebanon Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said they received several calls of reckless drivers Sunday morning in that area, but did not find the driver. If you have any information of this driver or witnessed this incident call the OSP at (513)-932-4444.

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