3 accidents on Hwy. 64

RANGELY I Three single-vehicle accidents have taken place in a six-mile stretch of Highway 64 in the last week and a half.
On Sept. 24, a pickup truck ran off the road at mile marker 30.1 east of Rangely, colliding with a fence post and telephone pole before hitting an embankment.
According to a Colorado State Patrol (CSP) accident report, the 18-year-old driver, Walker Smuts, and a 16-year-old passenger sustained injuries when the Ford F-250 veered off the left side of a wet road early Monday evening.
Smuts and the passenger were not wearing seatbelts and Smuts was cited for careless driving causing bodily injury. Alcohol and drugs were not factors in the crash.
On Saturday morning, a 22-year-old male passenger from Carbondale, Colo., sustained serious injuries when he was ejected from a 2001 Mitsubishi SUV that rolled multiple times near mile marker 30 east of Rangely.
The passenger, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was taken to Rangely District Hospital and airlifted to a Grand Junction hospital.
The driver, a 15-year-old male from Glenwood Springs, was stabilized at RDH before being transported by ground to a hospital in Glenwood Springs. He was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash.
According to a CSP press release, the Mitsubishi “had difficulty negotiating a left-hand curve.” The vehicle came partially off the right side of the roadway, skidded across the eastbound and into the westbound lane and then continued off the north side of the highway, rolling several times.
Alcohol is thought to be a factor in the crash.
On Sunday, Sept. 30, an R.W. Jones semi truck carrying approximately 50,000 pounds of heavy equipment partially rolled at mile marker 36.9, on the curve popularly known as “Cook’s Corner.”
“The vehicle came around the corner at an excessive speed and the load shifted and broke its chains,” Colorado State Patrol trooper Eric DiBenedetto said.
Either the load coming off the trailer or the trailer itself popped a tire, causing the trailer to roll onto its top and the cab to roll to the driver’s side, DiBenedetto said.
Travis Reynolds, 40, sustained no injuries from the crash. The passenger, Reynolds’ 11-year-old son, had minor injuries. Both appeared to be wearing their seatbelts, DiBenedetto said.
Reynolds was cited for careless driving causing injury.