Crash wedges sedan beneath blades of farming implement in Modesto area. How the driver fared
The photo is jarring: the front end of a Honda Civic chewed up and wedged beneath the blades of a tractor-drawn farming implement.
The caption to the photo posted Thursday morning by the Modesto office of the California Highway Patrol is equally shocking, calling it a “minor injury collision.”
Yes, the 28-year-old woman driving the sedan was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries from which she is expected to fully recover, CHP spokesman Officer Tom Olsen told The Bee.
The call reporting the crash was received about 7:15 a.m. Thursday, Olsen said. It occurred on southbound McHenry Avenue just north of Stewart Road in the Del Rio area north of Modesto.
That stretch of McHenry is two lanes each direction, Olsen said, and the farmer involved in the collision was doing everything right: driving in the far-right slow lane, going a slow rate of speed and using flashing rear lights.
The Honda driver approached from behind at an estimated speed of 50 mph and told officers she failed to see the tractor and tool until the last second. She applied the brakes a moment before impact. “This was about 6 inches away from being really, really bad,” Olsen said.
The driver, whose name was not available Thursday morning, was properly wearing her safety belt, Olsen said. Had she not been, the collision likely would have been fatal, he said.
Olsen said the crash is a dramatic reminder of how important it is for drivers to have their eyes directed well down the roadway. “Farming is still active right now — it is the whole year, to be honest,” he said.
We all have our routines, he said, adding that the Honda driver apparently was driving to work, and “sometimes we get complacent behind the wheel.”
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 11:22 AM.
