Whangarei school bus driver Sam Fife feels lucky to have escaped with a split liver and a few broken ribs after a steel pole came hurtling through his windshield on Monday.
A millisecond later and it could have killed him, or a child, he says.
Mr Fife, who has been driving buses for about 40 years, was carrying 38 Whangarei students home after school when a 2 - 3kg steel pole fell off the back of an approaching truck on Onerahi Rd, bounced twice end-over-end, and crashed through the windshield, slamming into his chest.
"It took my breath away completely, I couldn't breathe," he said from his ward in Auckland Hospital yesterday.
"The first thing I thought about was the kids, to make sure they were safe, so I just pulled over to the side as quickly as I could."
His actions are being credited with potentially saving lives, because if he hadn't managed to stop, the bus could have hurtled down a bank or crashed into oncoming traffic.
A group of Whangarei Girls' High students, aged 12 to 14, rushed to his aid, wiping the blood from his face and rubbing his back to help him breathe.
"I thought it had shattered my chest and I had visions that my heart wasn't going to work again," Mr Fife said. "I thought it may have been the end."
He felt lucky to have escaped with a split liver and two or three broken ribs, and especially that the pole had missed the students.
"If it had been six inches up or six inches across it would have been fatal ... or it could have hit a kid through one of the side windows."
Mr Fife praised the staff at Auckland and Whangarei Hospitals, and the young girls who had helped him.
"They stepped up. You think that maybe they're a bit scatty, but they're not really."
He had the steel pole at home, and would probably take it to work as a souvenir.
"If all else fails we'll sell it for scrap metal."
Mr Fife was reluctant to accept the "hero" label which has been bestowed on him.
"It's part of my job and that's what they train me for; they put me through courses and things like that to prepare me for this sort of thing."
He hoped to return to work soon.
Sergeant Daniel Cleaver said the driver of the truck which had been carrying the pole was yet to be identified.
However a member of the public had noted the company the vehicle came from, and police had been notified and were trying to work out who was behind the wheel.
It was possible the driver was unaware that the pole had come loose.
"At this stage it's being treated as an accident where one of the vehicles failed to stop, and that will be fully explored once that vehicle has been identified," Mr Cleaver said.
"We can't pass judgement on whether they knew or not without speaking to them."
It was too early to say whether charges were likely.
"If it was well secured and it just happens to have wriggled free then it's different to if it's been loosely thrown on there in a dangerous position. That's a completely different kettle of fish."
