Three Wrecks on the Rudder Freeway Monday Afternoon

For the second time in as many weeks, the afternoon commute on the Earl Rudder Freeway between Southwest Parkway & University Drive included multiple crashes.

College Station Police report the first of three wrecks was Monday afternoon at the Southwest Parkway exit.  A white Dodge Ram truck was southbound on the highway and had an unsecured ladder.  The ladder flew off the back of the truck and bounced along the highway.  A gold Toyota Camry was following behind the Dodge and swerved to miss the ladder.  As she was swerving, the driver lost control of the vehicle causing it to rollover at least twice.  The driver of the Toyota, 53 year old Elaine Gunn of College Station, was transported to College Station Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.  The driver of the pickup, 54 year old John Griffin of North Zulch, was cited for failing to secure a load.

While officers were working that incident, a second crash occured in the southbound lanes just north of the Harvey Road bridge.  Traffic was slowed for the previous accident.  A white GMC truck failed to control speed and made an evasive maneuver to avoid traffic that was stopping in front of him.  The GMC struck the guard rail on the north side of the bridge which slowed his forward motion before driving off the bridge onto Harvey Road.  The vehicles in front of the GMC and behind the GMC took the same evasive maneuver but managed to avoid the accident.  No injuries were reported, and the driver of the GMC, 27 year old Brian Noriega from Calvert was cited for failing to control speed. 

And the the third crash, also in the southbound lanes, was at the Harvey Road exit.  A black Lincoln Mark 8 was slowing due to traffic when it was struck by a black Ford Explorer from behind.  The black Ford Explorer was also struck from behind by a Wal-Mart tractor trailer.  A white GMC Yukon had been between the Lincoln and the Ford but moved off onto the shoulder to avoid the accident.  His driver’s side mirror was struck by the Ford’s passenger side mirror as she passed by.  The driver for the Ford Explorer, 52 year old Deanna Holladay of College Station, was transported with non-life threatening injuries to the College Station Medical Center.  Cited for following too close were Holladay and the driver of the semi, 54 year old Franklin Bates of Temple. 

Officer Rhonda Seaton called on not only defensive driving but driving without distractions.

Rhonda Seaton visits with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.

Short URL: http://wtaw.com/?p=43896

Posted by Bill Oliver on Jun 11 2012. Filed under Featured Stories, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry