A woman has been left shaken after she had a near-miss with death when she avoided being impaled by a four-foot metal pole that fell off the back of a truck and went into her windscreen in Arizona, USA.

Mandy Poff, a nurse from Mesa, said she hasn't been able to sleep since the terrifying incident, which took place on Thursday on State Route 51.

Police are still on the hunt for the driver of the vehicle.

Ms Poff told FOX 10 Phoenix: "It was flying in the air like a missile. It bounced up on the road then flipped up and went straight through my windshield right by my face, then kind of went up and cut the top of my car and lodged itself in my back seat."

She said a bump in the road dislodged the metal pole, which was not secured properly onto the white pickup truck.

When she pulled over onto the roadside and brushed broken glass from her lap, Poff soon realised that the incident had left her unscathed.

She said a police officer at the scene told her he "couldn't believe she was alive".

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Despite her newfound fear of being in a car, Poff said she won't let the accident stop her from commuting to work.

"I can't sleep and I'm terrified of being in a car.

"But I do a lot of driving – I can’t avoid freeways and I’m not going to let this stop me. I love my job. It’s something I’m going to have to work through with therapy and time," she said.

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Police are unable to locate the driver responsible for the improperly secured load which led to the accident, with Poff saying that insurance has "been a nightmare".

In response, the Arizona DPS has taken to Facebook to urge drivers to double-check that their loads are properly secured.

"No matter how short the drive or how heavy the items, please take the time to secure your load before every trip!" the force wrote on social media.

They also implored drivers to stop and retrieve any items that fell off their vehicles to prevent car accidents.

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