REDMOND, OR -- After a horrific crash on Highway 97 in Redmond, last weekend, many drivers are questioning whether the intersection is safe. The driver of the Corvette, 19-year-old Patricia Jaeger, continues to recover following the crash when her car was run over by a semi truck. Redmond Police say the truck driver failed to stop at a red light, and hit two other cars after the Corvette.
Between 2009 and 2013 - the last year ODOT has records compiled - 36 crashes occurred at that intersection. Peter Murphy with Oregon's Department of Transportation says that’s not an unusually high number. "It looks like a majority of the crashes happen when it’s dry out and there’s no snow. And, the other thing we’re finding is that a preponderance of them are rear-end crashes; so generally, that’s someone up in front stopping at the light, and someone from behind is striking them, for whatever reason. But, it does not appear that weather is a factor." Of the 36 crashes that occurred in or near the Highway 97 and Veterans Way intersection during that five-year span, 19 were rear-end collisions.
