Two of my worst crashes

     My name is Gene F. Winkler and I am an EMT for Marion County in Kansas. I started my service with the Marion County EMS in August 1972.

Gene Winkler

     I would like to tell you about, what I consider the worst two crashes of my career after 44 years of service. It was a nice summer day, clear and sunny, on June 28, 2004. I was working rescue as first response when there was a vehicle crash. The page came out to respond to two semi-trailers and one pickup crash at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sunflower Road.  While in route we were told it was at a highway construction site. I climbed into the rescue truck and started toward the scene, which was about 10 minutes south of Marion.
     When I arrived on the scene I found a semi had stopped for the construction zone flagger and a small Dodge pickup, which was on fire, also had stopped. Then the second semi had run into the pickup pushing it under the first semi. The second semi driver said he fell asleep.
     When the fire was put out by the fire department, we removed two young men out of the truck. Both were charred and pronounced DOA at the scene.
     The next day June 29, 2004, in the afternoon the page came out to respond to the same location for another crash. We all thought this could not be happening on back to back days.
     Again, I responded in the rescue truck not knowing for sure what I was going to find today, especially after we had just had two fatalities the day before.
     When I arrived on scene, I could not believe the mess we all were about to undertake. There was a semi that stopped at the construction zone flagman, which was loaded with rock. Two cars had stopped also, the first car had a man and wife, the second car had three people. Then came the second semi. It plowed into the two cars, pushing them under the truck with the rock. This caused all the rock to come back onto and cover the two cars. The second semi then ran on top of the two cars.
     When we started assessing the scene we found that the three people in one car and two people in the other car were badly dismembered and all five were pronounced DOA. Seeing lots of children’s things in the back seat, we feared that they also had a child in the back seat, and we could not get to the backseat. After checking with family members, the child had been dropped off at their house and was not in the car at the time of the accident. At this point I had been an EMT for 32 years and I never want to go thru this again.

Roundabouts save lives

In Marion County, we had two intersections where numerous crashes occurred. The first is at Florence. It is where Highway 77 runs north and south and crosses Highway 50.  We were continually paged out for people running together. Most often it was the fault of people coming off Highway 77 and either hitting or being hit by a car on Highway 50.  On Sept. 7, 2006, the new roundabout was opened. Since then there has been zero fatalities.
     The second intersection, also on Highway 77, Highway 50 and K-150. KDOT installed rumble strips, a lighted stop sign and signs saying Highway 77 traffic does not stop, but nothing seemed to stop the crashes. People in the community wanted a roundabout at that intersection as well and were glad when it opened on Dec. 23, 2015. To date there has been zero fatalities.
     If you recall, throughout this story I do not call these accidents. These are car or vehicle crashes. Crashes can be prevented – here are a few tips:
uKeep your mind on the road.
uDo not text and drive.
uStop every so often for breaks.
uWhen you stop at a stop sign look to the right, look to the left and then look back to the right.
uDon’t look past the cars coming in the other lanes.
uDon’t automatically think that the other car is going to stop.
     Please remember, no matter how careful you drive, you always have to be aware of the other driver.