Occupants escape serious injury in three separate traffic accidents

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Three traffic accidents of importance have occurred since the first of the month in Lincoln County.

Sheriff Kerry Lee said on Aug. 3, a 17-year old female from Las Vegas, driving a 2007 Chevy pickup, suffered injuries after being ejected from the vehicle in a rollover accident on the Spring Valley road, past the ranger station, toward Camp Valley. He said it occurred about 3:30 p.m.

Pioche Fire and Ambulance, Sheriff?s Department, and the state park service ranger, all responded. Flight For Life out of St. George, Utah, was called, but later cancelled when the injuries appeared to be less serious than first thought. The woman was transported Grover C. Dils Medical Center in Caliente and said she was experiencing some chest and back pain. The 17-year old male passenger, also from Las Vegas, suffered only minor injuries.

On Aug. 1, a 1997 Ford sedan, driven by 94-year old Albert Smith of Caliente crashed into the front wall of Mountain Mercantile on Clover Street in Caliente about 12:15 p.m. He suffered minor head injuries and was treated at Grover C. Dils Medical Center.

The store suffered only moderate structural damage left of the main glass double doors, and has been repaired.

The vehicle jumped the curb and ran into the building. Smith told officers he thought he was applying the brake, but it was really the accelerator. No one was on the sidewalk at the time, and car did not enter into the store very far.

On Aug. 5, Lee said about 3 p.m., a northbound blue pickup vehicle was? attempting to pass a white Chevy Suburban van with a family from Utah, at the entrance to Cathedral Gorge State Park on U.S. Highway 93, when the van turned into the park roadway. The pickup struck the left rear corner of the van, spinning it around and into the ditch on the west side of the highway. The pickup went off the road on the east side.

Names and addresses of those involved were not available from Nevada Highway Patrol.

No injuries were sustained except for the driver of the Suburban who was transported by Meadow Valley ambulance to the hospital in Caliente with minor head injuries.