NORTH FORK – A three vehicle accident on Road 200 just east of the Bass Fork Minit Market reduced traffic to one lane for nearly two hours, but no one was seriously injured.
At about 2:10 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, Paula Dickison was stopped in the roadway eastbound, in a Honda del Sol, waiting for oncoming traffic so she could turn left into Shady Oak Mobile Home Park.
Gayle Fain was also eastbound, in a Jeep Cherokee, approaching the stopped Honda. Dickison says she saw the Jeep in her rear view mirror, and hit the gas to pull ahead because she didn’t know how fast the Jeep was going, but was afraid she would be hit.
As Fain reportedly slowed, she was struck from behind by a Ford Expedition, driven by Tia Hartsock, and the force of the impact may have pushed Fain’s vehicle off the road, according to CHP. Fain’s Jeep went off the right shoulder of the road, traveling about 20 feet down the embankment before forward momentum was stopped by a large bull pine.
The Expedition came to rest in the middle of the road, and residents of the Park called 911 and came out to assist with traffic control until first responders arrived.
Cal Fire Engine 4255 and 4275 responded along with Madera County Fire Engine 11. Firefighters placed Fain on a backboard to stabilize her, and lifted her up to the roadway, where Sierra Ambulance personnel prepared her for transport to Kaiser to be checked out. She was in good spirits, and other than some complaints of minor pain, seemed to have weathered the ordeal in good shape.
Neither Dickison nor Hartsock was injured in the crash. According to officers at the scene, Hartsock was “traveling at an unsafe speed for conditions.”
The investigation is ongoing, and the exact details of how the crash happened are not yet clear.
