GREAT Western harness trainer Kerryn Manning has walked away from a serious crash.
Manning and husband Grant Campbell were travelling to Terang on Tuesday afternoon for a meet, with three horses, when the crash occurred about 19 kilometres from Lake Bolac.
With a few aches and pains, Manning said she was travelling as a passenger and had dozed off to sleep about 5pm.
"We approached crossroads driving along at 100 kilometres an hour," she said.
"My husband saw a car coming and it wasn't braking. He only saw the car about 10 metres from the intersection due to a canola crop in the paddock.
"He yelled a profanity, which woke me up, and one second later we hit it."
Manning said she initially thought their vehicle hit a kangaroo.
"We hit the back of the driver's side corner of the car as it went in front of us," she said.
"Our car tipped onto its side and skidded along.
"The float probably saved us from rolling. It jackknifed and pulled our car back up onto its wheels.
"We ended up about 100 metres from where the impact happened."
Manning, the most winning female reinswoman in the world, said she felt lucky to escape without injury.
"All the airbags went off, which was good," she said.
"Only one door would open so we both climbed out of the passenger door. The horses all came out uninjured as well. They have a few scratches and like us, probably a bit sore.
"They'll have some time out and won't race for a week or so to recover."
Manning said the three people travelling in the other vehicle sustained only minor injuries.
"We were pretty lucky. A couple of seconds either way and things could have gone very differently," she said.
"If we hit their car further forward, or they ran into our passenger side, the outcome could have been very different."
Manning said she had since learned that there was a similar crash, just five days before.
"I heard a driver didn't see the stop sign and ran straight through and hit a B-double trailer," she said.
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