I almost ran this guy over!

I was driving home in the rain at 10:30 pm and I could see something in the road, it looked like a giant night crawler from the car. I swerved in time, (no one else was on the road so,  no, I didn't cause an accident) and I got out to see what it was. It was this really big yellow spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatum.  I looked it up and they're only supposed to get to about 7 inches long: tip to tip.  This one had to be 8, so I ran and got a ruler and it as just over 8 inches long! I can't believe I could see it on such a dark, rainy night.