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Thursday afternoon travelers on Hesperides Road found themselves caught in a lengthy backup after three vehicles tangled at the intersection of Ninth Street. Emergency responders worked to investigate and remove vehicles from travel lanes to clear the street, but no major injuries were reported.

The crash was apparently triggered by an illegal right-turn attempt from a left-hand travel lane.

Robert Connors

It appeared that the work service truck driven by an employee of Edgewood Landscape may have triggered the accident after attempting to make a right turn in front of the black compact car, pushing it into a third vehicle stopped at the corner.

A vehicle with two occupants driven by an employee of Edgewood Landscape crossed into the path of a second eastbound vehicle while attempting to turn south onto 9th Street. The second vehicle, a black compact car, was then pushed into a third vehicle which was apparently waiting at the stop sign.

Although safety equipment seemed to have prevented serious injuries, two of the vehicles were likely damaged beyond repair.

Lake Wales Police traffic investigators were working to determine the sequence of events as others were removing the crashed vehicles from the highway to clear and reopen the road.

The crash was the second in a matter of days apparently caused by attempts to turn across oncoming traffic from improper lanes. A 17-vehicle crash last week on US 27 in Lake Wales resulted in serious injuries.