Five people were taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore yesterday after being injured in three unrelated auto accidents in Carroll.
The first crash occurred at 1:05 p.m., when a Ford Escort wagon driven by Jim Cotterell, 41, of New Windsor collided with a 1988 Ford Escort wagon driven by Nancy Harlan, 63, of Taneytown, at Route 27 and Mall Ring Road in Westminster.
Police say Ms. Harlan was driving south on Route 27 and apparently made a left turn into Cranberry Mall and collided with Mr. Cotterell's car, which was traveling north.
Mr. Cotterell and his passenger, Daniel Staten, 39, of Hendersonville, N.C., were flown to the trauma center, where they were in serious condition last night.
Ms. Harlan's car also struck a pickup truck that was leaving the mall.
Neither she nor the driver of the pickup was injured, police said.
About two hours later, a 27-year-old Finksburg woman was flown to the trauma center after her Ford Taurus station wagon was struck from the rear, the front and on the left door by three vehicles in a crash on Route 91 at Amanda Lane.
State police said the woman, whose name was not released, was driving east on Gamber Road about 3:10 p.m. and stopped to make a left turn into Amanda Lane when her station wagon was struck from behind by a 1994 Plymouth van driven by Christopher Nulluso, 34, of Sykesville.
Officers said the woman's car was knocked across the center line of the highway, head on into a 1995 Nissan pickup truck driven by Robert Brucksch Jr., 30, of Glen Burnie.
A 1990 Dodge Omni, driven by Elizabeth Nusbaum, 31, of Sykesville then struck the left side of the damaged Plymouth van and hit the driver's door of the Taurus.
Neither Ms. Nusbaum nor Mr. Nulluso was injured.
State police said Mr. Brucksch was taken to Carroll County General Hospital.
A passenger in the Nissan, Edward Galloway, 56, of Ellicott City was not injured.
Fire rescue crews were able to extricate the woman through the rear window of the Taurus wagon.
She was taken to the trauma center as a precautionary measure, county fire officials said.
About 7:20 p.m., two men were taken by two state police helicopters to the trauma center after an accident on Route 140 about a half-mile south of Route 91 in Finksburg.
State police said a 60-year-old Baltimore man, driving a late-model Jaguar, apparently pulled from a used sports car dealership onto Route 140 and was struck broadside by a Mercury Grand Marquis.
Police did not release the name of either driver in the two-car crash.
No information on the condition of the two men was available last night.