Driver And Passenger Escape Injury In Unusual Accident

By Andrew Gorosko

The driver of a sports car and his passenger were fortunate to escape injury in an unusual accident that occurred at the end of a long, hilly, curving dead-end road in Sandy Hook on March 25, police said this week.

The accident happened about 12:51 pm on March 25 at the end of Valley Field Road South, a dead-end street that extends northward from Old Green Road. Police learned of the accident via General Motors’ On-Star automatic accident notification system, according to police incident logs.

Police said that motorist Jay Lee, 17, of 3 Megan’s Circle was driving his father’s 2009 Saturn Sky roadster, which held a 16-year-old male passenger, northward on Valley Field Road South, when Lee rounded a bend in the road and then realized that, contrary to his belief, the road was not a through-road but was a dead-end street that ended at a turnaround circle.

Lee applied the auto’s brakes, but the sports car skidded on the paved road’s sandy surface, resulting in the auto crashing into some metal-beam guardrailing and a utility pole, said Officer Dana Schubert, who investigated the accident for police.

The utility pole snapped and a heavy electrical transformer fell to the ground, landing about 10 feet from the car, narrowly missing the occupants, Officer Schubert said.

Also, the electrical lines that dropped downward from the utility pole were live wires which were carrying electrical voltage, he said.

The guardrailing along the end of the road is installed there to prevent vehicles from driving down a sharp drop-off that lies between the unconnected sections of Valley Field Road South and Valley Field Road North, the police officer added.

Following the crash, a Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) crew went to the scene to shut off electric power in the area.

An AT&T crew responded to replace the damaged utility pole.

Workers from Moran Environmental Recovery went to the scene to isolate the transformer and contain it within a plastic barrier.

Sandy Hook volunteer firefighters also responded to the incident.

The town road crew went to the accident for safety reasons, police said. The Saturn roadster was towed away for repairs.

Police issued Lee an infraction for traveling too fast for conditions.