Three people were injured in a rear-end crash on Illinois Route 161 at the Zion Hill Road east of Centralia Monday afternoon.
Marion County Sheriff’s Deputies say an SUV driven by 78-year-old Tamara Baker of Uhlman Road in Centralia was stopped in traffic waiting to make a left hand turn when her car was hit in the rear by a car driven by a 17-year-old male juvenile from Mt. Vernon. The juvenile said he didn’t see the car stopped in front of him and when he slammed on his brakes they didn’t work. After hitting the Baker SUV, the juvenile’s car veered off the southside of the road and went down an embankment.
Both drivers and a passenger in the juvenile’s SUV, a 16-year-old female juvenile from Mt. Vernon, were all taken to SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia for treatment of injuries.
The juvenile driver was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and for no insurance.
The crash occurred at 3:36 Monday afternoon.
