Two injured in Slab Fork wreck

By Jeff Stover
Senior Copy Editor

March 25, 2009 11:01 am

— Two people were injured Wednesday morning after a wreck in which one driver’s lack of familiarity with the roadway contributed to the crash, police said.
The wreck happened when an unidentified male driver from Barboursville, after leaving the Coalfields Expressway, drove his Toyota Camry onto Slab Fork Road and entered W.Va. 54, ignoring a stop sign where the two roads meet, Raleigh County Sheriff’s Deputy Randy White said.
Apparently the driver had used the Coalfields Expressway as a shortcut, but didn’t know about the stop sign and intersection where the roads join, White said. “He went through the intersection at full speed.”
Upon entering W.Va. 54, going toward Mullens, he immediately collided nearly head-on with a Suzuki Vitara driven by unidentified female from Pineville, who was driving toward Beckley. The impact forced the two vehicles across the roadway and into a ditch on the opposite side.
Traffic was halted for about an hour while emergency responders removed the patients and cleaned up the crash site.
Both drivers, the only occupants of the vehicles, were injured and transported to Beckley hospitals with what appeared to be minor injuries.