Poor road conditions led to a rash of accidents throughout Northern Nevada early this morning, one involving the death of a 19-year-old Fallon woman on Highway 50.
The fatal accident was reported at 5:46 this morning in Churchill County on Highway 50 three miles west of Fallon, reports Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen.
The woman died after her Volvo station wagon was hit by a pickup that had been traveling in the westbound lane and crossed the center turn-lane into the eastbound lane, according to a preliminary crash investigation.
The woman, whose name has not been released, died at the scene at 6:38 a.m. The driver of the pickup, a 21-year-old man with a New York driver's license, is listed in serious condition at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno after being transported from Banner Churchill Community Hospital in Fallon, Allen said. Both drivers had to be extricated from their vehicles.
The accident blocked both eastbound travel lanes and motorists traveling eastbound were diverted onto McLean Road around the scene. Alcohol and speed are both being looked at as the primary contributing factors, Allen said.
Meanwhile, the weather is believed to have contributed to many of the 17 accidents within a seven-hour period along Northern Nevada highways, Allen said. Freshly fallen rain and snow, coupled with freezing temperatures, contributed to the large volume of calls for service this morning involving automobile collisions during the Monday morning commute.
Of the accidents, NHP responsed to five rollovers on the stretch Highway 395 between Bellevue and the Bowers Mansion turnoff in the Washoe Valley area. Another particular area that saw crash activity was on Interstate 80 just west of the Boomtown interchange near mile marker 3 where three other accidents took place.
In Carson City, a four-vehicle accident with injuries was investigated on Highway 50 near just east of town near the Carson-Lyon county line, Allen said.
Witnesses to the fatal accident are encouraged to call Trooper Robert Haigney of the Major Accident Investigation Team (M.A.I.T) at (775) 689-4682 regarding case number NHP-1011080136.