LAIRDS CORNER — Traffic on U.S. Highway 101 is closed near the junction with state Highway 112 as authorities investigate a head-on collision involving a Clallam Transit bus and a camper truck.
In a separate nearby crash, a log truck apparently missed the corner of Edgewood and Dry Creek roads and shifted its load.
Meanwhile, a third crash — a rear-end collision on Highway 101 just east of the scene — further snarled traffic.
There were no life-threatening injuries in any of the collisions, Washington State Patrol Trooper Krista Hedstrom said, although the driver of the truck/camper was being airlifted from Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
PDN photojournalist Keith Thorpe at the scene told peninsuladailynews.com that the front end of the transit bus suffered significant damage. The driver was taken away by ambulance.
Thorpe reported that rescue crews needed “jaws of life” rescue equipment to extract the driver of the pickup truck/camper, which overturned. The unidentified driver suffered severe leg and ankle injuries after the leg was pinned inside the pickup, Hedstrom said.
The pickup/camper bore California license plates, she said.
7 p.m.:
The pickup truck/camper had apparently sideswiped a Jeep Grand Cherokee on Highway 101 in Port Angeles moments before the collision with the bus, Hedstrom told the Peninsula Daily News.
The driver of the Jeep was unhurt, she said.
The pickup continued westbound on 101, crossed the centerline approaching Lairds Corner and collided head-on with the transit bus that was heading eastbound in the middle lane.
Next to the bus in the right was a Geo Metro also traveling east. The bus was struck by the truck and was hurtled into the Geo, sending the car into a ditch before the bus ended up right behind it.
The Geo driver was unhurt, Hedstrom said.
The State Patrol sergeant at the scene didn’t know exactly how many were aboard the bus, No. 907. Some were taken to the hospital, but he didn’t know how many, Hedstrom reported.
Troopers found no indication of drugs or alcohol at the scene. The collision is under investigation.
