Nearly once a year, Central Whidbey Fire & Rescue is dispatched to a pond at the Keystone Spit where vehicles manage to find their way.
That time this year came Monday morning when a pickup truck left the road and landed in the water, leaving the driver scrambling to get out before the vehicle became almost completely submerged.
“He got his window down and climbed out the window and got himself to shore,” Central Central Fire & Rescue Chief Ed Hartin said. “Sooner or later, we’re going to have one there when they don’t.”
The pond, a remnant of an old gravel operation, is located at the corner of State Highway 20 and Keystone Avenue in Coupeville.
The driver, William Thayer, 32, of Oak Harbor, was traveling east on State Highway 20 and turned south on to Keystone Avenue when he immediately left the road and landed in the pond, according to Mark Francis, a spokesperson with the Washington State Patrol.
The accident happened at about 9:15 a.m. The driver reported that he was trying to avoid a collision with a deer or a dog, said Dave Martin of the Washington State Patrol who was on the scene.
Coyotes also are common in the area.
Thayer was transported to Whidbey General Hospital. He might’ve suffered a broken ankle, said Ryan Jones, a co-worker with Fastenal, an industrial supply company. Thayer was driving a Fastenal truck.
The sharp corner is the scene of a handful of single-car mishaps every year, Hartin said, including incidents where vehicles can’t make the turn and land in a ditch across the road.
Heading east from the Coupeville ferry, the speed is posted at 50 mph on the highway then is posted at 15 mph entering the turn.
The incident marks the second time in two years that vehicles have entered the pond and at least the third time since December 2012. Each time, the drivers escaped more tragic outcomes.
In May 2014, a bystander had to dive into the water to save a driver trapped inside the vehicle.
“With going in the water, it’s a big concern,” Hartin said. “Cars don’t sink immediately. If somebody can’t get the window operating after suffering an injury that prevents them from getting out, it’s a bit of a problem.”
Thayer was not cited, Francis said.
