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CRESCENT, Iowa -- Three people in a Chevrolet van were injured this afternoon when the driver tried to pass another vehicle on Interstate 29 and drove into the median, authorities said.
The northbound van was impaled on a guardrail for the traffic lanes headed the opposite direction, said Sgt. Mike Wesack of the Iowa State Patrol.
About three-fourths of the guardrail was uprooted by the crash, and the railing trapped at least one passenger in the handicapped-accessible van.
Once freed, that passenger was flown by helicopter to the Nebraska Medical Center, while the driver and one additional passenger were taken by ambulance.
The driver, whom investigators described as in his late 70s, was coherent but did not remember what had caused the crash, Wesack said.
Witnesses said it appeared the driver continued into the median after trying to pass. No skid marks could be seen. Rescue workers from Crescent, Iowa, and nearby departments responded.
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