OTIS – A 35-year-old Grand Ronde man was killed Thursday morning when his pickup collided head on with another truck on Oregon Highway 18 one mile east of its intersection with U.S. Highway 101.
Oregon State Police on Friday said Bryan J. Anderson died in the collision about 10:10 a.m. Thursday.
Police said their preliminary investigation indicated that Anderson was driving east in his Nissan pickup when he crossed over into the westbound lane and hit a small Ford pickup being driven Jenny F. Wiens, 63, of Salem.
Police said their investigation showed that Anderson was not wearing a seatbelt and died at the scene. Wiens was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
Traffic on both highways was affected for approximately three hours during the investigation, police said.
There are so many serious collisions on highways 18 and 20, it is saddening. I remember in the 1970’s, when funding the State Police was high on the priority list. Now they are operating at half of their needed force. We have some State routes that are never patrolled because there is no one to patrol them. Cell phone use has almost become a mental obsession and a serious distraction, not to mention all the drivers with no license or insurance. Add to the alcohol abuse, we now have a serious drug epidemic. Oregon was just listed nationally as one of the worst States to move to. We need to turn this around.