The drivers of a Honda Accord and a FedEx van escaped major injuries Tuesday (March 19) afternoon when their vehicles collided, causing the Accord to flip onto its roof in front of The Original Pancake House in downtown Los Altos.
The two male drivers were the only people involved in the accident, according to the Los Altos Police Department. Paramedics transported the Accord driver to an area hospital as a precaution, but the driver of the FedEx van did not require treatment.
The police department received the first phone calls about the crash at approximately 12:30 p.m., according to Sgt. Liz Checke. Witnesses said the driver of the van attempted to turn right from Lyle Street onto San Antonio Road, southbound toward Foothill Expressway, and his vehicle collided with the Accord, already traveling southbound on San Antonio. The front right tire of the van flattened, and the Accord flipped at least one time, causing its airbags to deploy.
Checke said the deployment of the Accord’s air bags and the fact that its driver was wearing a seatbelt helped protect him from injury.
“What a testament to seatbelts,” said one Original Pancake customer. She had parked her Audi A7 directly outside the restaurant, and the Accord came to rest only feet from her sedan’s rear bumper.
Neither driver was cited in the immediate aftermath of the accident, which temporarily disrupted southbound San Antonio Road traffic. Pieces of shattered glass and plastic from the Accord littered the restaurant parking lot. A second vehicle in the FedEx fleet arrived on scene to collect packages from the first before the van was towed. Strains of country music, still playing from the upside-down Accord’s radio, serenaded officers as they investigated the accident scene.
Most Original Pancake House diners were unaware of the crash until stepping outside at the conclusion of their meals.
Rick Fayram of Palo Alto, eating lunch with his friend Dennis Rutkin of Los Altos at the time of the crash, paused outside the restaurant to observe the hubbub.
“I was shocked,” Fayram said. “I looked outside, and there was a wheel up in the air, and I said, ‘Oh my gosh. There’s a car upside down.’ I would have thought we’d hear this. So I’m kind of surprised.”
Watch a video of a tow company flipping the Honda Accord back over on the Town Crier’s Facebook page.
