A 1998 Jeep and a Dodge pickup crashed on Friday, July 1, sending a Grand Marais woman to the hospital.
Nancy Briggs, 54, of Grand Marais was traveling southbound on the Gunflint Trail at approximately 40 or 45 miles per hour. As she rounded the Hawg’s Bend corner, she observed the green Dodge pickup at the stop sign on Cutoff Road. The pickup stopped, but then pulled out in front of her.
Briggs was unable to stop or swerve to avoid the pickup and the vehicles crashed.
The Dodge pickup was driven by Michael Burton, 16, of Grand Marais. Riding with him was a 15-year-old male passenger. Burton said he was following friends in another vehicle on the Gunflint Trail and they were following a slow moving logging truck. They decided to drive on Cutoff Road to get around the logging truck. Burton said his friend stopped at the stop sign and then went, and he followed, also stopping, but he told Cook County Sheriff ’s deputies that he pulled forward to see better. The sun was in his eyes and he said when he pulled out to head north on the Gunflint Trail, he saw the Jeep, but it was too late to avoid the collision.
The Maple Hill and Grand Marais fire departments and First Responders were paged at 6:22 p.m. The Maple Hill traffic control STOP team was also paged. Briggs was transported to North Shore Health, where she was treated and released for serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.
The teens in the pickup were not injured.
Both vehicles in the crash were totaled.
According to the Cook County Sheriff ’s Office, Burton received a citation for inattentive driving.
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