Chain reaction blamed in five-car crash in Albany

By Dena Libner

A chain-reaction crash on Route 16 Monday afternoon caused serious damage to the five vehicles involved but reportedly minor injuries to the mostly young passengers.Those involved in the five-car accident were mostly teenage students who had just left the Kennett High School campus at the end of the school day, officials reported.Conway Village ambulances were toned out for the crash on Route 16 at 2:30 p.m. Monday. A total of eight passengers were in the five vehicles, according to responders. Of the eight people involved, two male students, both 17, were transported to The Memorial Hospital with minor injuries, officials reported.The five vehicles, nearly all of which were totaled in the crash, were traveling south and had just crossed the Conway/Albany town line, responders said. The accident occurred just south of Profile Subaru.Tow trucks, a fire truck and at least one ambulance swarmed to the scene on Route 16, and rescue workers tended to passengers in the drizzling afternoon rain. The cause of the accident remains unknown."Something caused the front vehicle to stop, and there ended up being a minor chain reaction," Capt. Jon Hebert of the Carroll County Sheriffs Department said. "Who stopped first, who hit who, that's the thing we need to figure out."He said the accident was a minor one, and that the two 17-year-olds transported to Memorial Hospital were taken there as a precaution.Residents along Route 16 stood on their lawns in the rain to watch the wrecked cars being towed from the side of the road. Some said they were able to hear the crash from inside their homes when it happened.One unidentified man complained about the speeding traffic on Route 16, particularly in the area in front of Beep Beep Deli."You see people going 45, 50 miles per hour along this part of the road," he said, shaking his head at the crumpled cars on the edge of his yard. "Right here, right where everyone's turning into the deli, it's only about 25, 30."