BELLINGHAM – A Washington state trooper said a Maple Falls, Wash., woman narrowly escaped serious injury when she rear-ended a trailer hauling 27-foot-long poles.

The bundle of poles skewered the 36-year-old woman’s car Tuesday, shattering the front and back windshields and trapping her inside, the Bellingham Herald reported.

Trooper Keith Leary said the crash on the Mount Baker Highway could have easily been fatal. Erin Bruns was taken to a Bellingham hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Leary said the trailer was being hauled by a 60-year-old man from British Columbia. He told investigators he had been slowing for a dump truck turning left ahead of him. He estimated he was traveling about 25 mph.

Troopers are trying to determine why the driver didn’t see the poles, which had a red flag attached to them. She told them she didn’t remember anything.