Wet highway plays role in pair of single-car accidents
Brad Fuqua/The Western News Frank Thurow of Pioneer Auto and Wrecking watches as a tow cable begins to overturn a pickup that crashed on Highway 2 between Libby and Troy on Thursday.
Two single-car accidents on Thursday between Libby and Troy disrupted the railroad’s schedule and delayed delivery of The Western News to Troy.
No one was seriously hurt in the separate accidents, which occurred within two hours of each other after a brief snowstorm created wet road conditions.
A pickup carrying newspapers to Troy appeared to hydroplane, a witness told Montana Highway Patrol officer Bruce Broden, and abruptly went off the road, rolling 2 3/4 times before resting beside railroad tracks near mile marker 27. Broden responded to a second accident at about 6:30 p.m. in which a car ended up on the railroad tracks near mile marker 25.
An empty freight train en route to Tacoma, Wash. was stalled for 40 minutes to ensure that both vehicles were safely removed from the tracks, according to Gus Melonas, regional director of public affairs for Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
News staff members were able to salvage about half of the newspapers from the scene of the first accident and delivered them to Troy outlets the following morning.
Libby Volunteer Ambulance transported driver Jennifer Edlund, 17, to St. John’s Lutheran Hospital. A sheriff officer gave the driver in the second accident a ride to Troy after the accident victim refused medical treatment.
Edlund only suffered a scratch on her ankle and a few knots that formed on her head overnight.
She doesn’t recall how she lost control of the vehicle, but does remember traveling backwards after a 180-degree turn, and then rolling until the vehicle landed on its side.
She quickly pushed the heavy passenger door open and ran up the hill toward the road, fearing that the vehicle would catch fire and explode.
“He (Broden) told me I was lucky,” Edlund said. “I wasn’t speeding, and I was wearing a seatbelt.”