WALLINGFORD, Vt. — A logging truck lost a full load of logs after swerving to avoid a head-on collision with a teenage driver who suddenly entered his lane on Tuesday afternoon, according to Vermont State Police officials.
No one was seriously injured in the 1:40 p.m. crash, which remains under investigation.
William Stearns was southbound in a Subaru Outback when he tried to pass a vehicle as it turned from Vermont Route 103 onto another road in Wallingford, police said. As the 16-year-old Proctorsville, Vermont, resident passed the car, he entered the northbound lane and straight toward a fully loaded log truck driven by 32-year-old Matthew Johnson of Putney, Vermont, police said.
Johnson tried to avoid Stearns by locking up his brakes and pulling onto the northbound shoulder, police said. But Stearns also steered into the shoulder area, causing the two vehicles to collide, police said. The log truck went off the east side of the roadway and flipped onto its passenger side, dropping its load of logs, according to authorities.
Both vehicles sustained severe front-end damage, but neither driver reported any serious injuries and declined transportation to the hospital, police said.
Troopers from the Rutland barracks responded to the scene. Officials from the Department of Motor Vehicles and members of the Wallingford Fire Department, Mount Holly Fire Department, and Wallingford First Response and Regional Ambulance Service also responded.