A 17-year-old girl died and several others were injured Tuesday evening when her vehicle crossed the center line and struck a Jefferson Transit bus head-on, triggering a multi-vehicle collision that shut down Highway 104 for hours.
East Jefferson Fire Rescue responded at about 6:51 p.m. to the collision on Beaver Valley Road at Highway 104. Crews arriving at the scene found multiple injured people. The 17-year-old girl was pronounced dead, and a 29-year-old man who was a passenger on the bus was critically injured and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the Washington State Patrol said.
The bus driver was not hurt. Two other people, the driver and passenger in a pickup, were taken to Jefferson General Hospital. The Washington State Patrol said SR 104 at SR 19 was “fully blocked for a fatal/multiple serious injury head-on collision involving 3 vehicles and a city bus,” and warned drivers to use alternate routes. The Washington State Department of Transportation Travel Center Map showed the highway has since reopened.
While the collision is still under investigation, a WSP incident report said the 17-year-old driver of a Honda CR-V heading west crossed the center line and hit the bus, which was traveling eastbound, head-on. After it was hit, the bus crossed the center line and hit a Toyota Tacoma, which had been directly behind the Honda.
The crash illustrates the dangers of center line crossings on rural highways, where head-on collisions often produce the most severe injuries and fatalities. Investigators have not disclosed what caused the teen driver to cross into oncoming traffic.
