WASHINGTON CITY — Two 18-year-old men on their way to a high school basketball game were struck in a T-bone collision by another teen male driving a white Nissan Titan, according to police and family members on scene.

The crash occurred at around 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday evening. The two men – traveling in a gray Nissan Xterra – were heading south through the intersection of Green Springs Drive and Red Cliffs Drive when their vehicle was struck on the driver’s side and it went into a spin.

Washington City Police Lt. Kory Klotz said physical evidence and accounts of independent witnesses confirmed the Xterra had the right of way and the Titan’s driver failed to yield while turning left.

“The occupants in the Xterra were transported by ambulance as a precaution,” Klotz said. “There were no obvious injuries that we could see on scene, but with a high-velocity impact, they went to be further checked out. All three people involved were wearing seatbelts, and the airbags in the Xterra did not go off, luckily.”

Both men were conscious and talking with paramedics as they were taken one after the other to the hospital by Gold Cross Ambulance. The young male driver of the Xterra was able to call his parents, and since his father operated a towing service he arrived at the scene to check on his son and recover the damaged vehicle himself.

Since the Xterra came to a stop near the corner of the intersection, police and first responders only had to close the right turn lane on the southwest corner of the intersection. The closure funneled the already busy traffic into two lanes, causing minor delays for about 40 minutes as the scene was cleared.

The Titan was driven out of the intersection and parked a short distance away in the parking lot of a nearby shopping center. Police issued the driver a citation for failure to yield – left-hand turn, and offered to arrange a tow for the vehicle but the owner opted to make his own arrangements.

“Unfortunately we’ve had several (crashes) at this intersection with that blinking yellow light,” Klotz said. “We don’t have any indication of distracted driving, but that’s always a possibility. Those yellow blinking turn lanes seem to have some issues: it seems like sometimes those lights make people think they have the right of way or other people will stop for them, but that’s obviously not the case.”

He said the best thing to do is to slow down and use extra caution when navigating a left turn, especially in the case of a yellow blinking traffic turn signal.

Washington City police were assisted by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Washington City Fire Department and Gold Cross Ambulance.

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