An Ontario driver is lucky to be alive after a wood beam came crashing through their windshield Thursday morning.

The terrifying incident happened shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday on a stretch of the Queen Elizabeth Way highway in Mississauga when another driver, who was travelling westbound, lost control of their vehicle and collided with a centre guiderail.

“As a result of that collision, the guiderail, which is supported by a wooden post, came loose and a section of one of those posts went flying into the eastbound lanes,” Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the Ontario Provincial Police’s Highway Safety Division told CTVNews.ca. “A vehicle that was travelling eastbound took a direct hit of that wooden post. (It) went right through the windshield and nearly struck the driver near the steering column.”

Photos posted to Twitter by Schmidt show the shattered windshield and a large hunk of wood resting precariously against the vehicle’s steering wheel.

“Amazingly, the driver only sustained minor cuts and scrapes,” Schmidt said. “But had that been an inch or two higher, it would have gone right into the driver’s chest or into their face and it could have been absolutely devastating.”

The driver of the first vehicle also walked away without serious injury.

Several lanes of the highway were blocked until the dual accidents were cleared up at 2 p.m.

Schmidt is advising drivers to be extra cautious on winter roads, even in clear weather like Thursday’s.

“You never know (when) conditions may change,” he warned. “With blowing snow, wind and precipitation coming down, it can freeze and be slippery in many locations without warning.”

Schmidt also said that motorists should always have their “full attention on driving” and be “looking down the road to see if there’s any hazards coming up ahead.”

“Although in some cases it (happens) so quickly there is just no time to react,” he added. “We just want everyone to get home safely.”