Intersection yields numerous collisions

Children sent to hospital following two-vehicle accident

By KYLE McCLELLAN The Western News

Rescuers used the Jaws of Life to free two children from a damaged SUV Monday afternoon after it collided with a white pickup truck in the intersection of Washington and Balsam streets.

The children, ages 12 and 13, were taken to St. John's Lutheran Hospital with minor knee and side injuries.

The truck struck the SUV's passenger side. The impact caused the side of the SUV to cave in almost two feet into the passenger compartment where the children were sitting, said Penny Keyes, an EMT and volunteer Ambulance worker who was at the scene.

The driver of the SUV, Corliss Nelson, suffered minor knee injuries.

The driver of the truck, Gabriel Avarado, and his passenger, Jared Broadway, both suffered minor knee and neck injuries, according to Libby police officer Jason Place.

Like many around it, the intersection has no stop signs.

Drivers on the left are supposed to yield the right-of-way to drivers on the right.

Residents who live near the intersection said the accident is further proof that this rule is hardly obeyed.

They said this was the second accident at the intersection in six weeks.

"I'll tell you what, this is ridiculous," said Al Nichols, who lives at 1309 Washington Ave. "All we need is a stop sign in a couple of places here and this stuff would be eliminated."

As far as vehicle collisions go, this one seemed to have occurred at the best possible place and at the best possible time.

Bill Watt, the assistant chief of Libby Volunteer Fire Department, had the day off and was running errands in the area.

He saw the two vehicles approaching the intersection simultaneously.

"It looked like they were going to hit. So I just stopped," Watt said.

After it was struck, the SUV spun two and-a-half times and came to rest in the yard of Sharon Kelly, a former EMT with six years of experience.

"I had no trouble putting her to work," Keyes said.

What's more, the accident occurred on the day when Kelly's vehicles weren't parked in the yard.

Kelly pointed to where the SUV landed and said, "We always park our rigs on this side."

But it could have been much worse.

"This had all the potential for disaster," Keyes said.

The residents, who said drivers often cruise through the intersections at 40 miles per hour, are used to hearing the approach of a fast-moving car and then listening for the boom of impact.

Officer Place said he didn't expect one party to be at fault more than another.

"This is definitely an intersection we're going to have to have the city look at because this is the second bad wreck we've had in the last couple of months," Place said.