Traffic along U.S. 169 was anything but normal on a harrowing Monday for motorists as emergency crews responded to a pair of accidents hours apart along the same stretch of road.
The first, occurring just before 11 a.m., sent two people to the hospital.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Anthony T. Edmondson, 36, Lawrence, was northbound on U.S. 169 in his 1999 Volkswagen Passat just south of Missouri Road, when his van crossed the center line, colliding head-on with a southbound 2008 Honda Civic driven by Johnathan T. Riess, 22, Oak Grove, Mo.
The Volkswagen went into the ditch, while Reiss’s car then hit the back trailer tires of a semi-tractor trailer rig driven by Harold C. Osborne, 51, Clay Center. Osborne also was northbound when the accident occurred.
An Eagle Med helicopter was flown to the scene to transport Reiss to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. Edmondson, who was not wearing a seat belt, was taken via ambulance to Allen County Regional Hospital.
Osborne was unhurt.
Both Osborne and Reiss were wearing seat belts, according to KHP.
The highway was closed to traffic altogether through the morning, and eventually limited to one-way traffic in each direction as the wreckage was cleared.
IT WASN’T LONG after the wreckage was cleared when crews were summoned again, this time a bit farther to the south, near the Hawaii Road turnoff.
Allen County Sheriff Anthony Maness said Braeden Randall, 19, Humboldt, apparently lost consciousness while driving a Mini Cooper along the highway.
The vehicle left the roadway and overturned, before landing on its wheels in the ditch.
Maness said Randall exhibited no signs of impairment, and he was otherwise uninjured, and did not require hospitalization.
