Freeways Get Double Dose of Trouble, Pain

Two multi-vehicle traffic accidents within 45 minutes and a few miles of each other in Anaheim Thursday resulted in several injuries and forced closure of two sections of freeway for about three hours.

Mark Reeves, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, said the first of the two accidents happened about 1:30 p.m. when a big rig overturned and slid across the eastbound lanes of the Riverside Freeway near the Orange Freeway transition. The truck hit a second big rig, causing it to jackknife, then struck a Mercedes, pushing it into the center divider, he said.

No injuries were reported in that accident.

The same was not true of the second crash, which happened about 2:20 p.m.

Robyn Butler, public information officer for the Anaheim Fire Department, said that incident involved four cars on the northbound Orange Freeway near Lincoln Avenue. Five people were hurt, including a woman who sustained major head injuries after being ejected from a car that overturned. She was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where she was reported in critical condition.

Three other women and a man were taken to Anaheim Memorial Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries. Officials said the cause of the second accident was still under investigation.

Reeves said the two crashes closed sections of the eastbound Riverside and northbound Orange freeways until about 5 p.m.