Terrebonne woman injured in three-vehicle Deschutes Market Rd. crash

(Update: Adding exemption for agricultural vehicles)

Deputies say her car struck a mulch spreader that extended into lane

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A Terrebonne woman was injured and taken to the hospital Friday after her car struck an oversized mulch-spreader being towed behind a tractor on Deschutes Market Road north of Bend, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies and Bend Fire Department paramedics responded around 11:15 a.m. to a reported three-vehicle crash blocking Deschutes Market Road, about a quarter-mile north of Hamehook Road, Lt. Mike Biondi said.

Deputies determined a Bend man was heading north on the road, towing the implement behind his tractor that was partially in the oncoming lane.

Diane Webb, 56, of Terrebonne, was heading south and saw the tractor and a line of cars behind it, Biondi said. But she didn’t see the implement and struck it, shearing part of it off.

Biondi said Webb’s Ford Fusion then struck a Bend man's van towing a horse trailer that had been following the tractor, sending it off the road and into a ditch.

Webb’s car crossed the southbound lane and came to rest on the road shoulder. Biondi said crews had to cut away wreckage to free Webb, who was taken by Bend Fire ambulance to St. Charles Bend with non-life-threatening injuries. No one else was injured in the crash.

Biondi said the tractor operator had emergency flashers activated and displayed a “slow moving vehicle” placard on the rear of the tractor. He also noted that pilot cars, for example, are not required due to exemptions for agricultural vehicles.

The crash partially or fully closed Deschutes Market Road for about two hours.