By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Slick road conditions across Princeton Township on Tuesday contributed to a tally of 14 accidents, three of which resulted in injuries, police reported.
At one point, an officer investigating one accident witnessed three others while he was at the scene, according to Township Police Detective Sgt. Ernie Silagyi.
”It was bad,” Township Police Chief Mark Emann said Wednesday. “We got hit all at once with over a dozen accidents within an hour.”
Perhaps the most serious was a collision on Route 206 near the Tournament Players Club at Jasna Polana golf course that “was very nearly a fatal accident,” Chief Emann said.
That accident occurred at approximately 2 p.m. when a driver lost control and drifted sideways into the northbound lane, where his car was struck by an SUV that ended up on top — and partially inside — of the vehicle.
The driver of the car sustained injuries to his right shoulder and torso and had to be removed from the badly damaged vehicle by the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad. He was transported to Capital Health System’s Fuld Campus and later released.
The driver and passenger in the SUV sustained only minor injuries. Detective Sgt. Silagyi said it was fortunate that the injuries were not more serious.
”The front of the one vehicle was on top and actually inside of the other vehicle,” he said. “If there was a passenger in that vehicle, it would have been very serious.”
That portion of Route 206 was closed for more than two hours while police investigated the accident.
The rest of the accidents were spread out across the township, Detective Sgt. Silagyi said.
The site where the officer witnessed three accidents while investigating another — on Bunn Drive in front of Princeton Community Village — was eventually closed so the township’s Public Works Department could salt and sand the roadway.
”We were spread a little thin, but officers did manage to respond to all the accidents,” he said, noting that the incidents involving injuries were handled with priority.
Detective Sgt. Silagyi attributed the prevalence of accidents to the quickness with which the roadways turned to ice.
”The conditions of the road deteriorated so quickly. Even traveling at a slow speed, a lot of vehicles were sliding off the roadway,” he said. “Most of the accidents were unavoidable.”
