At about 1:45 p.m. on Friday, April 8, a silver sedan failed to yield the right of way to an eastbound GMC Suburban at the intersection of South Grapevine Road and West Hafen Lane.
According to Mesquite Police Department Ian Douglas, the driver of the sedan, and elderly woman, seemed to be confused. “She was kind of lost,” he said. “She didn’t think she was here [in Mesquite], she thought she was in Overton.” Douglas confirmed to the Mesquite Local News that she had been transported to Mesa View Regional Hospital with minor, non-life-threatening injuries.
Two crises were avoided in the timing of this accident. The first was that the collision sent the GMC Suburban veering to the south side of Hafen Lane and onto Hughes Middle School property in such a way that it missed a power transformer box by mere inches. Speculation concluded that had the vehicle hit the box, there would have been a localized power outage and further injuries.
The second, and perhaps most disastrous crisis, would have been if the accident had occurred just 30 minutes later, dozens of students could have been caught in the accident, leading to numerous injuries or worse.
“We’re very thankful this happened when it did, and not a short time later,” Douglas said.
This story is ongoing and will be updated as soon as additional details are received from the Mesquite Police Department.
I had an incident last week on Mesquite Blvd. Driving west toward the Falcon Ridge underpass circle, I had just passed the west entrance to the Casa Blanca when I encountered a car traveling eastbound in the westbound lane. In other words, coming right at me. The person turned on their headlights and I moved to the left lane. I followed the circle around and went back but the car was gone. I suspect the person either turned into the Casa Blanca at the median opening or at least got over into the eastbound side of Mesquite Blvd. My only other curiosity is how the car got from the circle to the westbound lanes. That is not the easiest maneuver from the circle.
I dislike the roundabouts. To those who are not familiar with them can be very confusing.
I’ll admit, I too was nervous about the new roundabout, but I’ve gotten more comfortable with time. One does however need to be alert to other drivers while maneuvering the circle.
Fully 2/3 of this article is speculation about what might have happened, if “something else” had happened. That isn’t really news.