Car passing drivers on Route 70 hits another head on

🚨A westbound driver on Route 70 passed two vehicles

🚨He swerved out of the way of an eastbound driver but collided anyway

🚨One of the drivers was hospitalized with "extensive" injuries

MANCHESTER — It's a daily question for drivers on the two-lane Route 70: to pass or not to pass?

The decision late Wednesday night by a driver to pass two westbound cars led to a head-on crash that sent one person to a hospital, according to Manchester police Lt. Albert Vega.

The driver of a 2014 Acura MDX, Scott Steward, 61, of Browns Mills, wound up in the path of an eastbound 2007 Ford Escape driven by Jake Fee, 22, of East Windsor, as he tried to pass. Both drivers swerved off to the eastbound shoulder trying to avoid each other but wound up hitting each other head-on anyway, according to Vega.

Fee's Ford spun around and hit a tree along the shoulder of the road. He suffered "extensive" injuries and was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Police said he was in critical but stable condition Thursday morning. Steward refused treatment for minor injuries.

Photos of the crash scene show the road was wet at the time.

ALSO READ: Vehicles damaged, overturned by speeding truck in NJ parking lot

Deadly highway

The 60-mile, two-lane road between Wall in Monmouth County and Pennsauken in Camden County is heavily traveled with a speed limit that varies between towns.

In more populated areas of Camden County the speed limit is 45 mph but in more wooded areas like the crash scene can be 55 mph.

There were nine fatal crashes on Route 70 in 2023 including. So far there have been two, both in Burlington County.

ALSO READ: Vehicles damaged, overturned by speeding truck in NJ parking lot

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