Friday, 03 August 2007 01:53

CHP: July Has Fewest Collisions on Record

slide5“It’s luck of the draw” says California Highway Patrol Community Outreach Officer John C Hardey. Officer Hardey is referring to the collision numbers for Amador County for the month of July. July 2007 is now officially the least accident plagued month since recording keeping began in its present format, 1996.

Hardey reports just 32 collisions for the month of July. The next lowest month on record is July 2001 with 34 collisions. Hardey states that “Good weather may have played apart” but still there appears to be no rhythm or reason to the collision numbers. August, well that is another story, with the first day of the month seeing four collisions alone. Those collisions included two wrecks in the Buena Vista area, one involving a quad. The quad collision occurred yesterday around 6 pm when according to the CHP report written by Officer Brian Hagemann Andrew Bell, 41 of Ione, drove his Kawasaki quad onto Buena Vista Rd from his driveway directly into the path of 28 year old Peggy Marshall.The quad struck Marshall’s car ejecting Bell from the quad. Bell was not wearing a seatbelt and sustained major head injuries. He was transported by air ambulance to UC Davis Med Canter.

slide25 Just a few hours before the quad collision the second accident of the day occurred in the Jackson Valley area when according to the CHP report written by Officer Melisa Scobee, 23 year old Jeremy McLain of Ione came around a corner on Buena Vista Rd out of control and his vehicle began to slide directly into the path of 32 year old Justin Bell, also of Ione. The vehicles impacted sending McLain and his vehicle into an embankment. Two other accidents were also reported on Wednesday as well- both with property damage only