COLUMBUS, Ohio — Video captured the moment a car slammed into a disabled vehicle in the SmartLane of Interstate 670 in Columbus Monday morning.
Matt Bruning, the press secretary for the Ohio Department of Transportation, posted video of the crash, which occurred on I-670 East near U.S. 62 at 5:53 a.m.
The video shows what appears to be a red SUV broken down in the SmartLane, which was closed at the time of the crash, according to Bruning. At the same time, a white truck and a silver car are traveling in the SmartLane.
The truck slows down and tries to merge right, but another vehicle is in the way. The silver car tries to get around the truck by traveling to the left.
The video shows a person wearing what appears to be a neon vest standing in the SmartLane. They narrowly avoided being struck by jumping onto the concrete median barrier. The silver car then struck the red SUV.
Bruning joined The Big Picture and discussed the incident, saying the main purpose of the SmartLane is to use as an emergency breakdown shoulder and an additional lane of traffic when it’s needed. It’s only opened when ODOT clears debris from the lane and ensures no vehicles are broken down.
“First and foremost, the SmartLane is an emergency breakdown shoulder,” Bruning said. “There are so many signs telling you ‘the SmartLane is open, the SmartLane is closed,’ so this morning there would have been red X’s over that lane.”
Bruning added people need to pay attention when they’re driving to avoid incidents like this.
The Columbus Division of Police says one person was taken to a hospital and their condition was described as stable. It’s unclear if any citations were issued.