Traffic backs up for miles following chain-reaction wreck on U.S. 101
This 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier was sitting on Louella Road, waiting to turn left onto U.S. Highway 101, when a pickup truck hurtled into it during a chain-reaction collision Sunday morning. The cars driver, John A. Chitwood of Olympia, was treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries. -- Photo by Paige Dickerson/Peninsula Daily News
By Paige Dickerson, Peninsula Daily News
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The arterial highway was closed for more than an hour near Sequim Bay State Park.
Even after the two-lane road with no detour was reopened about 12:20 p.m., eastbound traffic was backed up almost to Agnew about six miles away.
A long line of cars was reported extending east from the crash scene toward the Jefferson County line.
One person was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for internal injuries.
No report on her condition was available Sunday evening.
Another person was reported in stable condition at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
Others were treated and released.
The collisions occurred shortly after 11 a.m. on Highway 101, a winding stretch of two-lane highway at the intersection of Louella Road near the entrance to Sequim Bay State Park, about four miles east of Sequim.
How it happened
Here's how Washington State Patrol troopers described the series of collisions:
A two-door 1998 Ford Escort, driven Lillian M. Campbell-Bush, 37, of Mountlake Terrace, was stopped in the westbound lane of U.S. 101, waiting to turn left onto Louella Road.
A 1997 Roadtrek camper van driven by George W. Fiedler, 83, of Nordland failed to stop in time, swerved and clipped the rear of the Escort.
The impact sent the Escort spinning into the opposite lane of traffic, State Patrol Sgt. Brett A. Yacklin said.
That's where a 2001 GMC pickup truck driven by Arthur E. Abrams, 59, of Sequim struck the Escort, hurtling the car into a guardrail on the north side of the highway, Yacklin said.
The pickup, meanwhile, veered to the right and crashed into a blue 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier driven by John A. Chitwood, 38, of Olympia which was idle on Louella Road waiting to turn left onto Highway 101, Yacklin said.
Passenger airlifted
A passenger in Campbell-Bush's Ford Escort, Traihana L. Bush, 18, of Shoreline, was flown to Harborview Medical Center, Yacklin said.
She was still being evaluated in the emergency room Sunday evening, a hospital spokesperson said.
Rescuers needed a mechanical device to remove Campbell-Bush and Bush from the Escort.
"They had to be extracted with the jaws of life," Yacklin said.
"It seemed pretty serious and sounded like they had some internal injuries."
However, Campbell-Bush, who was taken to Olympic Medical Center, was treated and released from the Port Angeles hospital.
A passenger in the Roadtrek van, Patricia M. Fiedler, 80, of Nordland, a passenger in the pickup truck, Paulette S. Pitcher, 54, of Sequim, and a passenger in the Cavalier, Christina O. Johnson, 31, were also taken to Olympic Medical Center, according to the State Patrol.
Treated and discharged
Like Campbell-Bush, Fielder and Johnson were treated and discharged.
Pitcher was listed in stable condition at Olympic on Sunday evening.
All four vehicles were destroyed, Yacklin said.
"The airbags deployed in the Escort and also in the pickup," Yacklin said.
"During the crash, the road was pretty busy, and it was drizzling as it has been all day, maybe a little more even then than it was [the rest of the afternoon.]"
Everyone involved was wearing seat belts, the State Patrol said.
George Fielder, the driver of the van, was cited for driving too fast for conditions, troopers said.
He was not injured and neither was Arthur Abrams, the pickup driver, the State Patrol said.
John Chitwood, the driver of the Cavalier, was treated by paramedics at the scene for minor injuries.
Other drivers queried
Four hours after the wreck, traffic was still sluggish on the North Olympic Peninsula's main highway.
Drivers stuck in the long lines on either side of the wrecks sometimes shouted at drivers coming from the opposite direction asking for information on why traffic was so backed up.
The wreck had begun to be cleaned up by about 2 p.m., but officers were still slowing traffic as investigators looked into the causes of the collisions, Yacklin said.
Neither drugs nor alcohol were involved, the State Patrol reported.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: August 24. 2008 9:00PM