Investigators said a 50-year-old driver was traveling westbound in the second lane when, for an unknown reason, the car crossed left through the median and entered the eastbound lanes.
Maple Valley, WA – One person died, and two others were seriously injured in a multi-vehicle head-on collision that occurred on Thursday, May 21, on State Route 18 between Maple Valley and Covington.
According to authorities, the pileup involved four vehicles in the eastbound lanes of SR-18 near Southeast 231st Street.
Investigators said a 50-year-old driver was traveling westbound in the second lane when, for an unknown reason, the car crossed left through the median and entered the eastbound lanes.
The driver of a second vehicle driving eastbound in the second lane swerved left to avoid a collision, but the wrong-way car struck the second vehicle’s front passenger side head-on.
The westbound vehicle continued into the first eastbound lane after the initial impact and collided head-on with a third car. The second impact caused the westbound vehicle to spin and strike the front of a fourth car heading eastbound with its rear.
After the chain-reaction collision, the three vehicles involved in the head-on collision came to a stop in the first eastbound lane and on the right shoulder. The fourth car stopped on the left shoulder of the highway.
The Washington State Patrol, Puget Sound Fire, and King County Medic One (KCM1) responded to the scene.
According to PSF, three patients were transported from the crash scene to a Seattle area hospital with serious injuries.
The 50-year-old driver was later pronounced dead at Harborview Medical Center. The driver was wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision.
Authorities closed SR-18 for more than 4 hours during the rescue and investigation.