Staff Reports
Two Tonawanda women are reportedly all right following a two car accident at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, at the corner of Wheatfield Street and River Road.
“It looked worse than it was,” Assistant North Tonawanda Fire Chief Joseph Sikora said.
Both cars sustained heavy front-end damage and a utility pole was all but snapped in half after one of the vehicles is said to have spun into it.
“The one car was up against the pole and the other did have both airbags deployed and I assume they hit,” Sikora said, adding the police investigation is not yet complete.
Both women were taken to area hospitals. The driver of the car that hit the pole was transported to Erie County Medical Center, while the other driver was taken to DeGraff with what in both cases are being called minor injuries.
“Nothing life threatening or serious. More precaution than anything else,” Sikora said of medical personnel’s use of a back board. “The one who hit the pole had gotten herself out of the car and was sitting on the ground when we got there.”
One woman at the scene said there’s been a problem with accidents in the area. She blamed the building on the south corner of River and Wheatfield.
“This is awful. It’s a blind spot. There are a lot of accidents on this corner. When I first moved in here, during the summer, we had about three accidents a week right here. You just can’t see,” Christine Flach of 497 River Road said.
Sikora said he can’t recall any specific series of accidents there, but said making the right on red into faster traffic on River Road represents higher risk for motorists.
National Grid was called as emergency personnel waited on scene slightly longer than usual, he said, in order to secure the pole.
“(They) brought in a truck with a claw on it ... they had to lift up the pole so we could get the car out from underneath,” he said.
Police ordered onlookers back as a precaution necessary because of hanging wires. Radio chatter at one point raised concerns due to backed-up traffic and an approaching train.
