Visibility, slick roads cause collision

Slick roads and poor visibility made Arnold Road the location of another accident this week.

Luckily, Wednesday’s accident did not end with a fatality as did an accident in the same area on May 26.

Coupeville resident Brian Linson was driving his Ford F-150 out of Arnold Road onto Highway 20. Thinking it was clear, he pulled out onto the highway, but when he came into the turn to go north, he saw cars coming at him.

Trying to avoid them, he increased his speed, which caused him to spin out on the wet road.

“I just pulled out from here and saw the cars,” he said. “It (the car) just did a U-turn and came back here.”

Coupeville resident Cheryl Woodsman, who was coming south on Highway 20 in a Honda Accord, said she saw Linson spin and hit her breaks.

“I was just headed down the road and this man started spinning,” she said.

Unfortunately, her brakes locked and she and Linson collided.

On impact Woodsman’s airbags deployed and she smashed the front driver’s side of her car.

“I’m OK. I’m just upset that it happened,” she said.

Linson said he had just purchased his truck four months ago.

“I drove pieces of junk for 14 years and never got in a wreck,” he said.

He added that he works at the end of Zylstra Road and never takes Arnold Road, but Wednesday he had to drive to Oak Harbor right after work.

Linson said Woodsman tried her best to avoid his spinning truck and he thinks her efforts to avoid him kept both cars’ damages at a minimum.

“I’m sure it could have been a lot worse,” he said.

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