Pennsylvania driver flown to hospital after SUV tumbles off Colorado mountain road
A 55-year-old man from Pennsylvania survived his vehicle repeatedly rolling about 140 feet down a mountainside Thursday in southwestern Colorado.
The unidentified driver had serious injuries and was airlifted by medical helicopter to a local hospital.
The Colorado State Patrol handled the accident investigation and confirmed the driver was the only person in the Toyota 4Runner at the time.
The SUV was traveling northbound on Ouray County Road 10 on the south side of Brown Mountain. The driver was approaching Hurricane Pass where the road crosses a ridge between 13,347-foot (elevation) Brown Mountain and 13,459-foot Hurricane Peak.
According to CSP Trooper Sherri Mendez, the incident began when the 4Runner's passenger-side front tire left the road surface. The Toyota tumbled an undetermined number of times and came to a stop approximately 140 feet from the road.
The driver, per CSP, was reportedly not wearing a seat belt. An unconfirmed third-party report said the driver was ejected from the 4Runner; CSP could not confirm that detail.
CSP was also not able to clarify whether the incident was the result of vehicles trying to pass one another while traveling in opposite directions.
The driver was ticketed by CSP for careless driving.
The road is one of many above the town of Ironton that lead to abandoned mining towns by way of old wagon roads and railroad grades established in the late 1800s.
