A driver fled on foot after slamming into two other vehicles on Palmdale Road in Victorville Tuesday night, leaving one car engulfed in flames and two people hospitalized. The crash happened in the 13,000 block of Palmdale Road near Emerald Road, west of Cobalt Road, and temporarily closed the road in both directions while crews worked the scene.
According to VVNG, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputies responded to the multi-vehicle wreck after a car traveling eastbound in the No. 1 lane at a high rate of speed collided with a second vehicle heading westbound in the same lane, which then struck a third car. Sheriff's spokesperson Gloria Orejel told the outlet that the driver of the first vehicle fled the crash scene on foot and had not been located. Orejel did not provide descriptions of any of the three vehicles or drivers involved.
The impact set one of the vehicles ablaze, and firefighters worked to extinguish the fire before requesting two ambulances for the drivers of the second and third vehicles. Per the same VVNG report, those two drivers were transported to a hospital with what firefighters initially described as non-life-threatening injuries. A sheriff's helicopter joined the search for the driver who ran from the crash, and the Victorville Police Department has taken over investigating what caused the collision, which remains under investigation.
Aerial Search Into Unlit Desert Terrain
A sheriff’s helicopter assisted in the search for the driver who fled the crash scene on foot, but available information does not say whether thermal imaging was used or describe such technology as a standard tactic for nighttime searches in the region.
Leaving the scene of a crash that causes injury or death is not a minor matter under California law. California Vehicle Code Section 20001 is cited in connection with leaving the scene of a crash, as noted by the Shouse Law Group. The driver who fled Tuesday's crash had not been identified.
A Rough Stretch for Palmdale Road
Nine days earlier, on August 9, another three-vehicle crash occurred near the intersection of Palmdale Road and Cobalt Road, splitting a Honda Accord in half and sending multiple people to the hospital, as reported by VVNG. The crash occurred near Silverado High School.
Palmdale Road, also known as State Route 18, has been the subject of safety work. Caltrans announced a year-long construction project to build a raised curb median between Cobalt Road and US Highway 395, according to Observations Along the Road.
Just three days before this crash, another Victorville arterial saw tragedy when a Jeep collided with a car at Air Expressway and Village Drive, killing one person and injuring two others while shutting down that corridor for hours, as Hoodline previously reported. The incidents occurred on Victorville roads.
Hit-and-Runs on the Rise Statewide and Nationally
Victorville has been the site of other reported crashes.
The incident involved a driver who fled the scene. Broader statistics about hit-and-run crashes were not included in the supplied reporting.
Statewide traffic-fatality figures were not included in the supplied reporting. For now, investigators in Victorville are still working to identify the driver who ran from Tuesday's wreck and determine what caused the initial eastbound collision, which remains under investigation.
