Driver miraculously survives plunging 300 feet off Colorado highway: ‘Time to buy a lottery ticket’

A driver miraculously survived plummeting 300 feet off a cliff on a notoriously dangerous highway — walking free despite his pickup being left a completely crushed wreck.

The driver was on Colorado’s US Highway 550, also known as “Million Dollar Highway,” when he went over the edge into the Uncompahgre River Gorge, the Ouray Mountain Rescue Team wrote on Facebook.

Dramatic pictures show the mangled wreckage of the pickup truck lying on its roof after flipping over multiple times as it crashed down the steep cliffs in the dramatic Oct. 9 incident near the town of Ouray.

A team rappelled down the cliffside to rescue the driver, who remarkably suffered only minor injuries, much to the shock of Facebook users.

“After reading ‘minor injuries’ in the post, that is not what I expected the vehicle to look like,” one user wrote.

“Holy smokes. Jesus himself kept that person alive,” added a second.

“Glad he’s not hurt very bad. Time to buy a lottery ticket,” joked a third.

With its narrow lanes, hairpin bends, lack of guardrails and sheer drops, the Million Dollar Highway frequently features in lists of the most dangerous roads in the US.

This summer alone, it saw two fatal crashes, KKTV reported.

The road has no guardrails because, due to frequent avalanches, plows need to be able to push snow off the surface and down the cliffs to keep it open.

“Campers, Semi-Trucks, and trucks with trailers travel this road frequently. In the winter months, be sure to stay on top of what the weather will be. It is common for the Colorado Department of Transportation to close down the road for safety reasons,” the town of Ouray’s tourism page states.