Winter’s last hurrah: Snow, ice make for tricky travel
The last week of winter began with a new burst of snow and ice that has meant for tricky travel and some crashes at higher elevations around Central Oregon.
Oregon State Police Lt. Bill Fugate said troopers responded to several crashes throughout Sunday night and well into the afternoon. He said the slick and icy roads played a role in several of the accidents, which included a head-on crash around noon on Santiam Pass.
Fugate said drivers need to follow the rules of the road.
NewsChannel 21’s Pedro Quintana was at the pass today and will have a report on what he saw and what travelers had to say, coming up at 5 and 6 on KTVZ.
Four people were injured and taken to St. Charles Bend Sunday night and one driver was cited after a two-car crash on Highway 97 near State Recreation Road north of La Pine closed the highway and left two people pinned in the vehicles, Oregon State Police said.
The crash was reported at 9:36 p.m. at milepost 158, about eight miles north of La Pine, troopers said.
The driver of a 2003 gold Chevy Blazer with three occupants and a Washington license plate was heading south and lost control in ice and snow on the roadway, troopers said.
The Blazer began to spin and crashed sideways into a white 2006 Honda Accord in the northbound lanes.
The driver of the Blazer was thrown onto the highway but survived, troopers said. The front passenger was injured and the rear passenger was pinned in the back seat, OSP said. The driver of the car also was injured.
La Pine Rural Fire District crews were able to cut away the wreckage and remove the back-seat SUV passenger and car’s driver, troopers said.
The driver of the Blazer was cited for failure to wear a seat belt and failure to drive within a lane, troopers said.
Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies and ODOT assisted at the scene. High Lakes Towing towed the Blazer and Crescent Towing towed the Accord.
Another crash, reported around 9 p.m., was a single-vehicle rollover on Highway 20 about 56 miles east of Bend. There were no reports of life-threatening injury in that crash, but roads were reported to be very slick from about Brothers to the east.
