An early morning wreck Tuesday in Clarkesville sent one woman to the hospital. It happened around 6:25 a.m. at Highway 115 and Beaver Dam Road, near Clarkesville Elementary School.
According to the preliminary investigation, Tristen Coley, 19, of Lakemont, was driving a Dodge 1500 west on Hwy. 115. Ruby Gilbert, 54, of Lula, was eastbound in a Ford Taurus.
“As the white Dodge approached the hillcrest at Clarkesville Elementary, Mr. Coley failed to maintain his lane and crossed into the eastbound lane,” the state patrol report states.
The front of the Dodge truck struck the side of the Taurus. The truck continued traveling west, striking a mailbox, stopping in the woodline on the south shoulder of the highway. The Taurus came to rest on the south shoulder of the road.
“One person was still inside the vehicle and had to be extricated by emergency personnel,” says Habersham County Emergency Services spokesperson Rob Moore. That extrication took about five minutes.
Habersham EMS transported Gilbert to Habersham Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Coley was not injured in the wreck, troopers say. They charged him with failure to maintain lane and for having bad tires and suspended registration.
The wreck shut down Highway 115 for about an hour.