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From the scene of log truck accident Wednesday morning. (C. Todd Sherman)
Submitted photo.
Submitted photo.
Submitted photo.
Submitted photo.
Kristen Guin, 19, of Fulton, was traveling eastbound in the right lane of Highway 78 when authorities say she switched lanes, striking a semi driven by Timmy Warren, 45, of Oxford, along its front axle.
Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper Casey Mayo said the semi crashed into cable barriers, flipped into the median and spilled its cargo into the westbound lane.
One of the logs crashed through the windshield of a Dodge Caravan traveling westbound on Highway 78.
Mayo said the barriers prevented the truck from colliding with oncoming traffic.
The barriers were installed last year and are the reason the Mississippi Department of Transportation was awarded the 2011 Roadway Safety Infrastructure Improvement prize by the Federal Highway Administration and the Roadway Safety Foundation.
Guin and Warren, along with the Caravan’s passengers, Crystal Gale, 33, and Joseph Gale, 27, of Fulton, were transported to North Mississippi Medical Center and released a short time later.
The wreck closed four lanes initially at 7:25 a.m. but the site was cleaned up by 10 a.m.
jb.clark@journalinc.com