Accidents numerous; one killed

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, Dec. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Authorities are wondering whether a medical condition may have caused a woman to crash into an oncoming tractor-trailer rig that killed her in one of nearly a dozen freeway collisions that tied up afternoon traffic across the valley.

Sally Lonergan, 39, of Las Vegas was headed north on Interstate 15 between Sloan and Jean near mile marker 21 when about 12:30 Monday she suddenly veered off the roadway, across the dirt median and into southbound traffic, said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Harney.

The woman's 1989 Dodge sedan struck the rear wheel of an oncoming 1994 Freight Liner, spun around and wedged into the middle of the rig, Harney said. Investigators determined that the Dodge was dragged more than 150 feet, during which the car was split in half and Lonergan was ejected.

"Inside her car was literature on epilepsy," Harney said. "We're not sure if she had epilepsy, or may have suffered a seizure. It didn't appear that she had been drinking, but tests will be done to determine what may have caused this accident."

Richard Figone, 27, of Salt Lake City, who was hauling styrofoam in the rig for Knight Transportation, was treated at University Medical Center for shock and minor cuts and bruises on his face, Harney said.

Troopers were forced to shut down I-15 between Sloan and Jean to clear the accident from the roadway, detouring traffic away from the site onto Las Vegas Boulevard South.

But by 3:30 p.m., when the southern stretch of I-15 was reopened, nearly a dozen more traffic accidents farther north on the freeway had motorists in a serious snarl.

The northbound lanes of I-15 between Flamingo and Spring Mountain roads saw a backhoe flip off a flatbed and into the center travel lane when a motorist apparently cut in front of a tractor-trailer rig, authorities said.

Two cars crashed as a result, and backed up northbound traffic for more than two hours.

Danger continued a few exits north with a two-car collision near the Sahara Avenue off-ramp, a four-car collision near I-15 and Charleston Boulevard on the southbound side, and four minor crashes along the freeway's northbound travel lanes between Sahara and Charleston.

"Traffic was jammed from the Spaghetti Bowl to Russell Road along I-15, and also along U.S. 95," Harney said. "All of these accidents were happening about the same time. Troopers were hopping from one accident to the next to the next."

Four fender-benders were reported before 4 p.m. along U.S. 95 between the Spaghetti Bowl and eastbound Rancho Drive. Motorists trying to merge from westbound 95 to southbound I-15 were backed up beyond the expressway's Eastern Avenue exit.

Adding to the late-afternoon traffic congestion was a truck collision at I-15 and Craig Road, a two-car crash in the southbound lanes of U.S. 95 near Russell and another fender-bender along northbound I-15 at Russell Road.

"We're growing so fast as a city and there are not as many roadways as we should have," Harney said. "They're adding more, and for that we're lucky. But when you get 190,000 visitors on the road like we had this holiday weekend, and 4,000 to 5,000 new people moving here a month, and they're all on the same road, that's a lot of cars."