David Virgoe had been a large commercial truck driver ever since he began driving a truck for his father, David Virgoe Sr.'s construction company in the early eighties. In fact, on his first date with his now wife, Debbie, he picked her up in the business' dump truck.

David had driven for over a quarter of a century without a single collision or accident.

On June 18th, 2007, carelessness behind the wheel of a car traveling at speeds seventy above the legal limit of 100 km/hr on Highway 400 south of Innisfil, Ontario, caused David to make the ultimate sacrifice to further prevent carnage and death on the highway.

Three friends had engaged in an alleged street race northbound indulging in a stupid and selfish plan to beat each other to Wasaga Beach. One of the cars, a green Pontiac Grand Am, allegedly lost control as it attempted to pass David's tanker-truck, striking his truck's right passenger side and triggering a chain of events that resulted in David having to perform a series of safety maneuvers that led to his premature death.

When David's truck was hit, it caused him to bounce across two lanes of traffic, colliding with a Jeep that was in the left passing lane. David didn't have much time to react as his truck started to jackknife. He had a real battle ahead of him as he struggled to keep his rig from swinging further out into the southbound lanes of Highway 400 after shearing off hundreds of meters of guardrail. He also needed to steer his tanker away from the Jeep that was now pinned against his truck and the guardrail.

Experience and selfless regard for the safety of others told him what he needed to do, he knew if he kept allowing for momentum to take over, he'd start taking out several cars in the southbound lanes causing Lord knows how many collisions. David made a split-second decision that forever changed the lives of his family and all who knew him but saved the lives of countless others.

David knew he had to get his rig off the highway.

David grabbed the wheel of his red, International Harvester truck and taking the tanker along with him, pulled hard on the wheel and aimed for the shoulder - driving straight for the ditch. In a series of maneuvers, he braked and swerved, eventually rolling his truck and coming to a stop in the ditch. His rig flipped, according to witnesses, and momentum saw the tanker part overtake the tractor part and both pieces came to a rest at an awkward angle. David died, pinned by his cab.

David died a hero.

Drivers who stopped and gathered at the side of the road while they waited for emergency personnel to do their jobs clamoured to tell the arriving media that the trucker pinned in the wreckage was a hero.
The word resonated in media reports throughout the day and the weeks that followed.

Hero ... he was a hero. He swerved to avoid a minivan carrying a family. He swung his truck back into the northbound lanes after he jackknifed towards the southbound lanes. He was a hero. A hero they said, some crying into their sleeves, others using their shirts to wipe their eyes. Then word passed through the crowd that the trucker didn't make it.

Hero, they cried again, making sure the reporters wrote it down.
Be sure you write he died a hero.

Click here to read the OPP Commissioner's Citation for Bravery