Residents Very Lucky Following Christmas Night Motor Vehicle Accident

By Shannon Hicks

Two Newtown residents are lucky this week, after a vehicle they were driving was hit from behind while traveling on Route 302 during the early evening of Saturday, December 25. Two additional people, Virginia and Robert Alex, are also lucky to have walked away with seemingly minor injuries after their vehicle slammed into a New Holland manure spreader being towed by a John Deere tractor.

The two young men, both 15 (and therefore unidentified due to state laws that shield those under age 18), were traveling south on Sugar Street (Route 302) around 6 pm Saturday, traveling south near the road’s intersection with Sugar Hill Road. One of the teens was driving a tractor belonging to Ferris Farm, and the other was riding on the vehicle’s fender. The teens were in the roadway while running evening chores, moving manure from one field to another. The tractor’s running lights were on.

According to the police report, the driver of the tractor had pulled out from the farm’s driveway at 144 Sugar Street, turned the vehicle right, and traveled to the intersection of Sugar Hill Road, just over 135 yards, when he stopped for the left-turn onto Sugar Hill Road. The driver stopped his vehicle to allow at least two oncoming vehicles to pass before making his turn.

Mrs Alex, 78, of 185 Sugar Street, was driving a Hyundai Elantra sedan, which also had been traveling south. Her vehicle, with her husband in the passenger seat, hit the tractor and its trailer with such force that the hood of the car was completely under the trailer when the auto came to a stop. The trailer was on a 45-degree angle, leaning on the Hyundai, when it came to rest. The tractor itself remained on its wheels.

Newtown Ambulance, as well as Dodgingtown Volunteer and Hook & Ladder fire companies, were all dispatched to the scene. About 24 firefighters responded to the incident. Firefighters secured the spreader with at least two stabilizer bars before extricating Mrs Alex from the vehicle. They also cleaned fluids from the roadway.

The entire load of manure that had been in the trailer was thrown from the trailer to the west side of the roadway by the impact. Ambulance personnel checked all four of those involved in the accident.

One of the first people on the scene, and also one of the first to report the incident, was an employee of Monroe EMS and a firefighter for another local town, who saw the incident unfold in front of him.

No skid marks were apparent on the roadway, which was closed for more than an hour while emergency personnel attended to the victims and police officers began their investigation. A pair of flatbeds from Hilario’s was used to separate the vehicles. The Hyundai, the front end of which was completely crushed, was towed from the scene. The tractor and trailer, once separated from the auto, were driven back to the farm.

Mrs Alex was issued an infraction by police on a charge of failure to drive a reasonable distance apart.

The roadway was reopened around 7:30 pm.