Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Carson City firefighters remove a Dayton woman from her car after an accident at Arrowhead Drive, near Technology Way, on Thursday morning.
A Dayton woman is lucky to have survived a rollover crash on Arrowhead Drive on Thursday morning, witnesses said.
"There's a good argument for side airbags," Carson City Sheriff's Deputy Rick Dodds said as he nodded at the mangled Toyota Highland SUV.
April Smith, 40, was westbound on Arrowhead Drive near Sunrise Drive when she drove onto the dirt shoulder, struck a power pole and flipped several times.
Carson City firefighters cut the conscious Smith from the vehicle. She was taken by helicopter to a Reno hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.
"I saw her coming up on me speeding," said Kenneth Lee, who was in front of Smith right before the accident. "All of a sudden I saw her go to the right and next thing I know I hear 'WHAM!' She was right beside us."
"That car flipped 10 times, easy," said Lee's passenger John Krepps. "If it wasn't for her seat belt and those airbags, she wouldn't have survived that."
The power pole was nearly sheared off at its base, knocking power out to surrounding homes.
The Toyota landed on its wheels in a field east of Vitamin Products Research and just off the green of the Eagle Valley Golf Course's west course. The curtain side airbags and driver's airbag deployed upon impact.
Sgt. Scott McDaniel said it appears Smith has an existing medical condition that contributed to the accident.
A seizure was blamed for an accident in January in which Smith plowed through the empty bedroom of a Fortune Drive home in Dayton. In that accident, Smith was also taken by helicopter to a Reno hospital where she was treated and released with minor injuries.
• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.