A 29 year-old Jefferson man was cited after a three vehicle chain-reaction crash in Greene County Monday.
According to the Iowa State Patrol, Eric Oliver of Jefferson was heading northbound on highway 4 in a 1987 Chevy Monday afternoon. He came up to a road construction area near 260th Street just before 3:30p. A construction worker was directing traffic with a stop sign as the highway was reduced to one lane. Northbound traffic was stopped, waiting for the stop sign to change. It wasn’t until the last minute that Oliver noticed the vehicles in front of him were not moving. He attempted to break but was not able to stop in time and rear-ended a 2001 Audi driven by Deborah Monthei of Jefferson. The collision then forced Monthei’s vehicle to rear-end another vehicle driven by Nickolas Sorensen of Jefferson.
Both Oliver and Monthei were transported to the Greene County Hospital with neck and shoulder pains. They were treated and released while Sorensen was not injured. Oliver and Monthei’s vehicles were towed from the scene while the third vehicle only received minor damage and drove away from the scene.
The State Patrol says there were three warning signs posted approximately ½ to ¾ of a mile before the work area, giving motorists plenty of time to slow down. As a result, Oliver was charged with failure to stop within the assured clear distance.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson Police Department, Jefferson Fire Department Greene County EMS also assisted at the scene.