Weather is going to grab cars there, that’s a given.”

Fire Chief Tim Manly Brinnon Fire Department

Seven collisions at or near Milepost 302 on U.S. Highway 101 in the past month have left law enforcement exasperated and concerned.

Chief Tim Manly of the Brinnon Fire Department has been called to the stretch of the north-south corridor multiple times, and has his suspicions about the cause of the wrecks, which have included rollovers, two-vehicle collisions, and a fatality crash.

Additionally, a few weeks ago, a solar-powered beacon that was situated along the roadway was removed to clean off moss and to service the light.

Since its absence, accidents seems to have gone into overtime. 

Joshua D. Abdon, 39, of Stayton, Oregon is the single fatality. He died Oct. 21 in Harborview Medical Center in Seattle from severe injuries from a crash on Oct. 14.

It was just after 3 a.m. when Abdon, who was headed south in a 2003 Ford Escape, went off the road as it approached a sharp curve near Milepost 300. The car went into the ditch on the south side of the road, came back onto the highway, went across both lanes, spun around, and then hit a large tree next to the ditch on the other side of the roadway. The vehicle was totaled in the crash, and drugs or alcohol appeared to be a factor, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Another incident, which involved a 36-year-old Port Orchard man in a Jeep Wrangler hitting a 33-year-old Quilcene women’s Grand Cherokee, involved excessive speed.

The man was taken to St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale for treatment of minor injuries, and is facing charges of driving too fast for the conditions, according to the State Patrol. The woman was not injured, but both vehicles were totaled.

Manly reiterated that the area near the fated mile-marker is a 40-mile-per-hour zone.

Currently, before dropping down the hill where speed is reduced heading toward Milemarker 302, a single blinking beacon alerts drivers at the hilltop.

“I petitioned to have that one put up a few years ago,” Manly recalled.

He suspects that drivers get complacent headed down the hill without the second warning light to alert them.

“It catches them off guard,” he said.

Road conditions should also be taken into consideration, the fire chief added. 

At 5:44 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, a semi-trailer truck rolled over and was blocking traffic in both directions on US 101.

The semi truck, hauling paper, flipped and spilled its load. After the initial crash, another vehicle went off the road not long after.

Both drivers were fine, with no injuries. State troopers believed that heavy rainfall in the area was the cause.

“Weather is going to grab cars there, that’s a given,” Manly said, citing that bald tires and wet surfaces are a dangerous combination.

The chief also noted “95 percent” of those involved in the recent wrecks were not local drivers, including the driver of the semi that tipped over.

Many of them have never been to the area before, he said, and are taking routes suggested by their navigation devices, which are not always the most expedient or intuitive.

The majority of people getting in wrecks in the area are 35 years old or younger, the chief said, adding most of the drivers who have totaled their cars appear to have been distracted.

He suspects that cellphones are involved in most, if not all, of the crashes.

On Monday, he spoke with the Washington State Department of Transportation to discuss the next step toward curbing further accidents, and confirmed that the beacon will indeed be replaced.

“We are very closely monitoring it,” the chief said, adding that local officials were working closely with WSDOT.

The county has no jurisdiction over the roadway as it is a designated U.S. highway, Manley added, and further acknowledged that a shortage of workers was likely to impact the timing of replacing the beacon.