Traffic on a rain-soaked Grand Avenue came to a halt Wednesday after a car plowed through the center divide and crashed into a concrete pillar underneath U.S. Highway 101, police said.
The driver, an 18-year-old San Luis Obispo resident, was turning left onto the street when the accident occurred, San Luis Obispo police officer Colleen Kevany said. He suffered minor injuries and was taken to Sierra Vista Medical Center.
“In this case, the driver accelerated too hard on a wet surface. Then he lost control of the vehicle, spun out, went up on the planter and hit the big, square, concrete pillar,” Kevany said.
The other two passengers, an underage male and an underage female, were released on scene. All of the passengers’ names are currently being withheld pending an investigation by the driver’s insurance company, she said.
“(Dispatch) received a call at 11:57 a.m. from passers-by who witnessed the accident” said Capt. Rik Grencik, who works at the fire station on Foothill Boulevard and Chorro Street. “We were first on the scene with the San Luis Obispo Police Department and the San Luis Obispo ambulance.”
College Towing removed the man’s black Lexus SC400 shortly after the accident. The car, which appeared to be totaled, will be kept at a storage facility in town, Kevany said.
“This is pretty much a big nothing. It’s just a single vehicle,” she said. “Still, it shows that you need to be cautious in wet weather.”