Girl injured in Tuesday Main Street car crash

Published 11:57 pm Wednesday, October 15, 2014

A 17-year-old girl suffered head and facial injuries in a Tuesday afternoon two-car crash at Main Street and the Sterling Highway. Homer Police Sgt. Lary Kuhns said the girl, the driver of a Chevrolet Blazer heading north on Main Street, did not appear to wear her seatbelt and hit her head on a windshield. 

The crash briefly knocked her unconscious. Homer Volunteer Fire Department medics took the girl to South Peninsula Hospital.

A 17-year-old boy in a Chevrolet pickup truck had minor injuries to his shoulder and ankle. On advice of medics, the boy also went to the hospital. 

Kuhns said the girl had been heading north from Old Town on Main Street when her car collided with the truck heading west. A third driver in a car heading east on the Sterling Highway narrowly avoided the crash, Kuhns said.

“Everything just spun around her,” Kuhns said the third driver told him. “She was really lucky she wasn’t involved.”

It looked like the girl rapidly accelerated and tried to beat the truck through the intersection, Kuhns said. 

Police do not suspect alcohol or drugs to have been involved, he said.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has identified the Main Street and Sterling Highway intersection as an intersection meriting traffic control for safety reasons. In April, DOT&PF chose a traffic signal with turn lanes as the best option and is preparing environmental and engineering documents. Construction should start in 2016 or 2017. 

A study from 2005-2009 showed 14 crashes at the Main Street and Sterling Highway intersection, with one involving three cars and the rest two cars. Two were minor injury crashes; there were no major or fatal injuries. 

Most of the crashes, 71 percent, were angle collisions and the rest rear-end collisions.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.