Accident sends couple to hospital
by Dave Cadriel, Editor
An accident at the intersection of FM 3159 and FM 311 last Thursday sent an elderly couple to University Hospital.
Upon arriving at the scene, passers-by had stopped to render aid to the accident victims.
Master sergeant Tim Hardin with the U.S. Air Force, who was an eyewitness to the accident, used a crowbar to pry the door open on one of the vehicles in the accident.
According to Hardin, a Jeep Liberty, driven by 17-year old Michelle Easterlin of Canyon Lake, was in the turning lane on FM 3159 to turn onto FM 311. A Ford Taurus station wagon, driven by 72-year old Milton Parks, also of Canyon Lake, was driving the opposite direction.
Hardin said as Parks came to the intersection Easterlin pulled out in front of him.
Scott D. Apple, a state trooper for the Texas Department of Public Safety, corroborated Hardin's account of the accident and added that Easterlin told him that she did not see Park's station wagon.
Hardin said he was stopped at the stop sign on FM 311 when he witnessed the accident.
The accident spun the station wagon around, Hardin said, and he immediately parked his vehicle to render aid.
Apple said Easterlin sustianed some bumps and bruises to her legs and some stiffness to her neck, but the driver and passenger of the station wagon weren't as fortunate.
Parks sustained a laceration to his head and his wife, Connie Parks who is 78-years old, suffered a compound fracture to one of her wrists.
AirLife was called in to transport the Parks to University Hospital.
Apple said this accident and the accident last week has him concerned because, in his opinion, young drivers are not enrolling in driver education classes since the state began allowing parents to teach their children how to drive.
According to Apple, Easterlin did not complete a formal driver's education course, which in his opinion helps to support his theory.
Apple said training by a parent doesn't not replace the training by a qualified teacher who is certified to to teach defensive driving.
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