Three people were injured in a two-car accident that closed
Highway 25 for nearly an hour during rush hour traffic Tuesday.
Three people were injured in a two-car accident that closed Highway 25 for nearly an hour during rush hour traffic Tuesday.
Two of the victims, whose names were not available by press time, were taken to Hazel Hawkins Hospital. A third person, whose name was also not available, was taken to St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy with a possible broken arm.
The accident happened on a dark section of Highway 25 about a quarter of a mile south of the San Benito-Santa Clara County line.
An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said the 5:53 p.m. accident happened when a maroon Ford F-150 pickup appeared to abruptly slow down for a slow-moving car that was in the middle of the highway without its lights on.
The witness said a reddish-colored Chrysler PT Cruiser was trailing the pickup and its driver’s vision may have been impaired by a tractor-trailer rig that was trying to enter the highway from a private driveway. The driver of the PT Cruiser apparently could not stop in time and struck the rear of the pickup.
The force of the collision apparently forced the pickup off the highway down a steep 20-foot embankment into a reinforced drainage ditch, witnesses said.
After striking the bed of the pickup, the engine of the PT Cruiser burst into flames. A passing motorist stopped and used an emergency fire extinguisher to douse the flames. The fire did not enter the passenger compartment.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.
