Published by Raymond Ray
Article and photos by Malia Dietz
At approximately 10:05 p.m. on Sunday, a call went in to California Highway Patrol dispatchers of a solo vehicle traffic collision. The location given was State Route 18 and Snow Valley Ski Resort.
Units arriving on scene found a black BMW that had been traveling downbound on Highway 18, hit an icy section of the roadway and spun out of control before overturning.
Another vehicle traveling down bound also lost control in the same icy section of roadway and was headed directly at the first vehicle. The BMW occupants were standing outside their vehicle but the out of control vehicle hit the mountain side instead of them. That vehicle was able to drive away from the scene.
Running Springs Fire Department arrived on scene to find 2 female occupants with three children in the back seat. All occupants were wearing their seat belts and suffered minor injuries in the accident. They declined medical treatment on scene.
Highway 18 was closed for a short period while Don’s Auto recovered the vehicle. The closure did not last long due to another professional recovery performed by Billy, a senior driver from the team of professional recovery operators at Don’s Auto, based out of Running Springs. The occupants from the BMW were visiting the area for the day from Burbank.
The exact cause of the crash is under investigation at this time but appears ice in the roadway was a factor. CHP called CalTrans to lay down cinders in the area. At the time of the crash it was 35 degrees.