No injuries reported in two-vehicle crash in Airport Road intersection plagued by accidents
Sep. 20—No injuries were reported after a two-vehicle crash Monday morning, Sept. 20, at the Airport Road intersection that has been recently plagued by accidents.
According to a release from North Dakota Highway Patrol, 21-year-old Ali Almutairi of Saudi Arabia was driving southbound in a Honda Accord on Airport Road coming from the airport just before 11:30 a.m. Monday. Almutairi had the green light and was passing through the intersection of Airport Road and Highway 2 when a Ford Econoline van driven by Warren Helgeson, 77, of Rothsay, Minn., ran a red light in front of him, according to NDHP.
Almutairi T-boned Helgeson's vehicle, and Helgeson was cited for running the red light.
Neither driver nor Helgeson's 83-year-old passenger claimed any injuries.
According to NDHP, the vehicles blocked the intersection for a short time but have been removed from the highway. It was reportedly raining and overcast at the time of the accident, and road conditions were wet. All people involved were wearing seatbelts, according to NDHP.
There have been many crashes reported at that intersection for several years. In July, the Herald reported that there had been 19 crashes at or near that particular intersection in the past year, including an early June crash that killed one person and injured 12 more.
Of those crashes, 14 were rear-end collisions, two were sideswipes and one happened in mid-December 2020 when a Devils Lake man driving a car east on Highway 2 tried to turn south, lost control on the icy road, and slid into a car pointed northward that was stopped at the red light, the Herald previously reported. Of the rear-end collisions, 11 occurred in a work zone.
At that time, University of Minnesota traffic expert told the Herald that that stretch of road — which for months has been under construction with four lanes of traffic reduced to two — does not appear to have any safety problems with the work zone setup.
