A Garden State Parkway toll collector reportedly followed her gut instinct, stayed home from work and it saved her from serious injury.
A garbage truck collided with a toll booth at the Barnegat toll plaza early Friday morning, injuring the on-duty toll collector and the truck driver, State Police said.
Jessica Daley told NBC TV in New York that she normally works in the toll booth that was hit and was awakened twice Friday morning by premonitions “something terrible was going to happen.”
The second warning came at 4 a.m. that she “was going to get in a car accident. And it was so strong, that I actually called out and I literally never call out of work,” Daley said.
Her instincts were correct.
Roughly two hours later, State Police were called to the Barnegat Toll Plaza at 6:18 a.m., after a southbound Mack Truck collided with the toll plaza, a State Police spokesman said.
The crash caused debris to fall on the toll booth and a Chevrolet pick-up that was in the toll lane. The toll collector in that booth and the truck driver both sustained serious injuries and were transported to an area hospital, State Police said.
That is the toll booth Daley said she regularly works in.
“My immediate response honestly, I dropped to my knees and just started crying. I was praying for everybody involved and thanking God that I had that feeling to call out,” she told NBC.
The toll worker in the spot that day was sent home from the hospital several hours after the crash, said Tom Feeney, a Turnpike Authority spokesperson.
State Police said the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @CommutingLarry
