Harrison 16-year-old Sam Skavdahl was driving his pickup in October when he said his break pads locked up, causing his vehicle to roll six times down the highway. Although he wasn’t wearing a seat belt and had an axe and trailer hitches flying around in his cab during the rollover, he managed to walk away from that accident. That experience, he said, taught him the importance of wearing a seat belt at all times in a vehicle, and it also changed his perspective on life, including appreciating even more the people in his life, including God and his family and friends, and realizing just how thankful he is to still be alive.
JEFF FIELDER Editor
HARRISON – After finishing some homework in Harrison on Monday, Oct. 7, Sam Skavdahl got into his pickup around 7 p.m. and began driving south on Highway 29 to his family’s ranch home about 25 miles south of Harrison.
Skavdahl, a junior at Sioux County High School, had just gotten outside of Harrison when he came upon a curve in the road. Like he always does when he reaches that point on the highway, he slowed down to about 45 miles per hour.
As Skavdahl began turning the steering wheel slightly as he entered the curve, he pushed on his breaks again to slow down just a bit more. However, his break pads suddenly locked up, giving him no control over his front tires.
His pickup swerved toward the right and hit a reflector pole on the side of the road. Because the breaks weren’t working, the pickup was going too fast as it veered into the ditch. The 16-year-old Skavdahl knew he was in trouble.
“I told myself, ‘My pickup is going to roll,’” he said. “I thought, ‘This is going to hurt.’”
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