
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 28, 1995                   TAG: 9507280101
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

5-VEHICLE I-81 CRASH INJURES 4

A sudden downpour and an inattentive driver resulted in a five-car accident Thursday afternoon on northbound Interstate 81, state police said. Four people were hurt.

State Trooper T. Roger Warden said a pickup truck pulling a trailer struck four vehicles after merging into the right-hand lane after traffic there had almost halted because of the rain.

Warden gave this account of the crash:

The pickup, driving north of the Dixie Caverns exit, pushed 35-year-old Kim Davidson Blevins' car into the right shoulder.

Blevins and her passengers, Donna Colley, 50, and Barbara Shokley, 55, were taken to area hospitals with complaints of neck and back pain. The women live in the New River Valley.

The pickup continued north and hit Roanoke resident Jason Woodrow Gillespie's car, sending it into the median. Gillespie, 25, was not injured, but his passenger, Lisa Jo Lane, 26, was taken to the hospital with back injuries.

After ramming Gillespie's car, the pickup ran into a vehicle driven by Gregroy Allen Bell, 25, of Roanoke. Bell's vehicle rear-ended a fifth car owned by James R. Weisbecker, 59, of Wilmington, Del.

Traffic was restricted to one lane from about 2:30 to 4:45 p.m., Warden said.

He said 38-year-old John D. Howard of Baton Rouge, La., was charged with reckless driving. He was not hurt.

by CNB