View from Best Western Driveway
Shortly after the accident
Update: Monday, Jan. 28 – Police say the boat trailer was weakened by age and that the boat was too big for it.
Some folks hauling a 26 foot sport fishing boat to Salem from South Beach, were headed north on on Highway 101 in North Newport Saturday afternoon when something went terribly wrong with the trailer hitch. The men in the tow SUV said the boat and trailer began swaying back and forth and before they could stop, the boat trailer broke away, flipping over, sending the boat careening into the southbound lanes. Fortunately there was no oncoming traffic.
The boat continued across the southbound lanes and finally came to rest on its starboard side facing northeast at the end of the Best Western Inn driveway. Nobody in the SUV was hurt.
Police say it appears that the tow hitch failed which started the chain of events. The SUV’s undercarriage was reported damaged.
