Unsafe Lane Change Causes Rollover on U.S. 87

A driver of a blue Ford Explorer overcorrected two times, rolled upside down, slid “down the road for a distance,” pivoted around, rolled again and collided with a cable barrier after making an unsafe left lane change at the 300 block on the South U.S. 87 frontage road Wednesday morning, said Officer Mike Gesch with the San Angelo Police Department.

“The vehicle that rolled was coming onto the entrance ramp around the curb,” Gesch said. “At the same time, a blue Ford F-150 pickup was entering onto the frontage road. [The driver] didn’t initially see the pickup as he was sliding into the left lane. The Explorer swerved back to avoid the truck; the two vehicles didn’t collide, but that’s when he overcorrected and swerved.”

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The driver of the vehicle, Johnny Lollis of San Angelo, was able to get out of the vehicle after the accident; however, a female passenger, name unknown, was entrapped for approximately 15 minutes before emergency responders recovered her from the vehicle.

Both Lollis and the female passenger sustained injuries and were taken to Shannon Hospital. Additionally, Lollis will be cited for an unsafe lane change. Gesch said incidents like this one are deemed “crashes” rather than “accidents” because 99 percent of them are preventable.

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