Hillsborough woman in stable condition
By:Eric Schwarz
A Robin Road woman was listed in stable condition Wednesday evening after a Tuesday accident that closed a section of Route 206 for about 3½ hours near Hillsborough’s border with Montgomery.
Three drivers were injured, two seriously, in a head-on collision at 5:19 p.m. that closed a three-quarter mile stretch of the highway between Mountain View Road in Hillsborough and Route 601 in Montgomery until about 9 p.m.
The accident occurred one-half mile south of Mountain View Road in Hillsborough, said Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest.
The county called upon its 1½-year-old “collision analysis reconstruction” team, which responds to accidents where there is a fatality or a potential of a fatality.
“There were no fatalities thus far, nor do we expect them,” said Mr. Forrest.“Regrettably for the last 10 years, (Somerset County has had) a traffic-related fatality every other week, or 25 a year.”
He said the investigation is continuing and no charges were filed as of Wednesday evening
Marcia L. Saretsky, 61, of Robin Road, Hillsborough, was driving northbound in a 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity.
“It appears (her car) began to fishtail and then cross the center line and proceeded into the southbound lanes of traffic,” Mr. Forrest said Wednesday. “It would appear that that vehicle lost control because of rain.”
The left front of Ms. Saretsky’s car collided with the left front of a 1984 Pontiac Fiero driven by Cheryl R. Schiendelman, 25, of Garfield Way, Montgomery. Ms. Schiendelman was driving southbound.
Ms. Schiendelman’s car then spun counterclockwise, the prosecutor said, and collided with the left side of a 1994 Nissan Sentra driven by Benmun Seto, 49, of Adams Court, Hamilton Township, Mercer County.
Mr. Seto was driving south behind Ms. Schiendelman.
There were no passengers in any of the cars. The cars all were towed from the scene.
Ms. Saretsky and Ms. Schiendelman were taken to the trauma unit of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
A nursing supervisor on Wednesday evening said Ms. Saretsky was in stable condition.
The supervisor said she showed no record of Ms. Schiendelman being treated at Robert Wood.
Hillsborough Rescue Squad extricated the victims with the Jaws of Life device, said C. David Gwin, chief of the squad.
Mr. Seto was taken to Somerset Medical Center. His condition was not available Wednesday evening.
The Somerville hospital’s Mobile Intensive Care Unit treated the victims.
About a dozen members of the Rescue Squad responded to the accident near Township Line Road, south of Mountain View Road, Mr. Gwin said.
Three ambulances and a truck carrying extrication equipment responded from the rescue squad.
“In under 20 minutes we had all victims extricated in ambulances on the way to hospitals,” Mr. Gwin said.
He said the call was part of a busy day, one of eight the squad handled Tuesday.
Hillsborough Volunteer Fire Cos. 2 and 3 stood by to secure a landing zone in case the North Star Medevac helicopter was called out.
Bob Brock, chief of Company 3, said the helicopter did not respond because of the bad weather.
Mr. Brock said about 15 firefighters total from both companies responded and stood by for about 45 minutes.
Two Montgomery Township police officers helped direct traffic to a detour, said Lt. Greg Harkins of the Montgomery Township Police Department.
The officers directed traffic for about 90 minutes starting at 5:30 or 6 p.m., Lt. Harkins said.
Terri DeSesso, owner of Plaza Deli near the accident, said many cars were diverted to River Road.
Visitors to the deli were discussing the accident Wednesday.
“Everybody was talking about it, but nobody knows anything about it,” Ms. DeSesso said.
Wayne Fisch of Scuba Connection said the accident delayed traffic and also a class scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. It began at 7 instead because customers could not get through, he said.
Many of the students of Allegra School of Music and Art couldn’t make it in after 6 p.m., and others were delayed, said Rosie Bishop, the studio manager.
Ms. Bishop noticed the cars being towed north when she left around 9 p.m.
One of the cars, a white compact, had its driver’s side “totally smashed,” she said. “There’s always accidents there.”
Peggy Fullam, another business owner in Mountain View Plaza, was at home three-fourths of a mile away from the accident.
“I heard sirens like crazy yesterday,” she said Wednesday.