South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) recalled in her newly released controversial memoir how a “mistake” in 2016 saw her coming *thisclose* to causing a massive motoring tragedy.

In excerpts from “No Going Back” that were published by The Daily Beast on Thursday, Noem admitted she once “made the mistake” of failing to personally check the hitch between the pickup truck and flatbed trailer she was going to drive.

The then-congresswoman was driving at 70 miles per hour on a crowded eight-lane interstate outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her daughter Kass when “we hit a bump, and the trailer came unhitched.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem admitted she once “made the mistake” of failing to personally check the hitch between the pickup truck and flatbed trailer she was going to drive.
John Lamparski via Getty Images

“The heavy hitch [hooked up someone else] slammed onto the asphalt, sparks flew everywhere, and the back end of the truck fishtailed almost out of control!” she wrote, per The Daily Beast.

Noem brought the vehicle to a stop, according to the excerpts.

Then, mother and daughter just watched “as thousands of people rushed by in their vehicles, oblivious to the destruction we had all just avoided,” she said.

“Gosh, Kass, we could have killed so many people,” Noem remembered telling her daughter. “I know. Thank God we didn’t,” Kass reportedly answered.

Noem has already drawn anger for other elements of her book, such as her puppy-killing admission and her questionable anecdote about staring down North Korean despot Kim Jong Un.