Oroville, WA: One person dead and three others injured On Olive Highway in Car Crash on Thursday afternoon -23rd October,2014
OROVILLE >> Authorities are investigating a possible medical emergency as the cause of a head-on crash Thursday afternoon in Oroville that left one person dead and three others injured.
The collision occurred around 1:50 p.m. on Olive Highway (Highway 162) just west of Arbol Avenue, involving a 2013 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck and a 2012 Toyota Venza sedan.
California Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Sanders said at the scene that the truck was traveling west and the Venza sedan was heading east, both going about 45 mph.
For an unknown reason, the elderly driver of the pickup truck steered left into the path of the Venza and the two vehicles collided, Sanders said.
The 81-year-old truck driver was dead when emergency personnel arrived, Sanders said. His name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
A passenger in the truck was seriously injured, She was identified as Bertha Bertrams, 84, also of Oroville. Bertram suffered major injuries and was driven by ambulance to Enloe Medical Center in Chico.
There are questions about what caused the Tacoma driver to leave his lane. According to a witness who had been following the truck for quite a while, the driver was doing fine until that point.
"There's a possibility of a medical emergency as to why he steered into the other lane," Sanders said. "We're not sure."
Authorities also don't know at this time whether the man died from the accident or from whatever caused him to veer left.
People in the Venza were also injured. The car driver, 65-year-old Oroville resident Jerry Waugh, suffered major injuries and was flown by helicopter to Enloe. A passenger in the car, 65-year-old Jeannie Waugh, was taken to Oroville Hospital with moderate injuries.
With the accident blocking the eastbound lane, authorities diverted traffic at Foothill Boulevard and Arbol Avenue. The road reopened about 90 minutes later.
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Olive Highway head-on collision kills Oroville man and injures three other people