Power was out in Slippery Rock Township after a dump truck's faulty brakes forced the driver off the road and into a utility pole Tuesday morning. The driver was carrying a full load of gravel southbound on Route 173.

SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — There were no injuries, but a utility pole was knocked down when a dump truck’s brakes failed on Route 173 Tuesday morning.

James Yoder, 39, of Boyers was driving a dump truck southbound when the brakes stopped working on Centreville Pike, between Harmony Road and Applewood Lane.

At that time, traffic was already down to one lane for work, and Yoder said he had only two options without working brakes: hit a line of stopped cars or veer off the road.

“Instead of hitting them, I chose to go off the road,” Yoder said, saying he sounded the horn once he realized his brakes had locked up.

When Yoder drove off the road, he estimates he was driving between 10 and 15 mph, and he was only five to 10 feet away from the line of stopped cars, he said.

Yoder’s truck sheared the utility pole in half when the truck stopped on the edge of the road and then rolled on its side, likely because of the full load of gravel he was transporting.

“It kind of happened in slow motion,” he said. “(The truck) just started leaning, and then it rolled.”

Yoder was able to climb out of the truck unharmed.

The truck, owned by Isacco Tile and Granite, is insured, and Yoder estimates it is 40 years old.

West Penn Power responded to the scene — an estimated 145 customers were without power in that area. Power was estimated to be restored by 2 p.m.

State police also responded to the scene, and Trooper Jennifer Cantella said Yoder did the right thing by driving off the road.