Three people had to be cut from their vehicles after a car and a box truck collided on the 600 block of Whiting Street in Hanover, Massachusetts, on Tuesday. All three were treated before being rushed to a trauma center, according to the Hanover Fire Department.
The department reported the crash location in a Facebook post that appeared just before 4 p.m., and as NBC Boston reported, crews extricated all three trapped occupants before transport. Officials have not said what caused the crash or how the vehicles came to collide, and the outlet's report notes that information on the patients' current conditions was not immediately available either.
Whiting Street is in Hanover, and Route 53 also runs through the town. The town has raised traffic concerns involving Routes 53 and 139, according to the Town of Hanover.
Traffic Alerts Near Whiting Street
Hanover police issued a traffic alert about construction near Pleasant Street and Whiting Street.
The Massachusetts Trauma Field Triage and Point of Entry protocol directs critically injured or ill patients to the closest trauma center rather than the nearest hospital; stable and less critically injured patients may also benefit from trauma-center care. South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth is the first verified and designated Level II Trauma Center south of Boston, including the Cape and Islands, according to South Shore Health.
Second Multi-Patient Crash in Hanover This Month
Tuesday's collision marks the second multi-patient crash in Hanover within a matter of days. Just eight days earlier, on September 14, emergency crews responded to a two-vehicle crash on the 800 block of Circuit Street that sent three people to the hospital, as Hoodline previously reported.
Handling both incidents fell to the Hanover Fire Department, a combination career and call department that operates out of two stations and offers technical rescue operations alongside three Advanced Life Support ambulances. The department, which holds an ISO Class 2 rating, cross-trains its personnel in fire suppression and emergency medical services, according to the Town of Hanover.
Route 53's safety problems extend beyond Hanover's borders. In neighboring Hingham, a fatal motorcycle crash occurred at Whiting Street and Derby Street in September 2023, according to the Hingham Police Department, underscoring the risks along the shared Whiting Street commercial strip that runs through both towns. State transportation officials have made incremental safety improvements along the corridor, including past intersection work at Queen Anne's Corner where Whiting Street meets Route 228 near the Hanover-Hingham line, per the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Whether investigators have determined the specific cause of Tuesday's collision, or whether state police were called in to assist Hanover police with reconstruction, remains unclear.
