According to reports of witnesses, a attempt to pass in a curve on Highway 278 near the Hope Municipal Airport resulted in a head-on crash that shut down traffic through the area and sent all three people involved to the hospital.

At around 8:15 p.m. on Friday, March 6, a Pafford crew from Nashville drove up on a wreck in the 3500 block of Highway 278 West, at the south end of the Hope Municipal Airport. They located a Toyota pickup overturned in the ditch and a Ford Edge sideways in the middle of the road. While they checked on the occupants, the radioed for law enforcement, and additional ambulance and requested a helicopter to be put on standby.

Both vehicles had severe damage to the front, especially their passenger sides. According to reports on scene, the 17-year-old female driver and her male passenger were traveling from Prescott in the Toyota. Witnesses reported that they were traveling westbound toward Washington and passing other vehicles in the curve, located in a no-passing zone, when they met the eastbound Ford Edge, driven by a Warren man. The two vehicles collided on the front passenger sides. The crash sent the Toyota off the edge of the road on the west side of the road where it overturned and came to a stop on its passenger side in the ditch. The Edge was knocked around sideways, blocking off the eastbound lane completely.

All three occupants sustained injuries, remarkably less severe than most expected from the condition of the vehicles. All were conscious and responsive and able to walk away without the need for extensive extrication. Pafford cancelled the helicopter and transported all to hospital by ground.

Once the injured were secured in ambulances and removed from the scene, Hempstead County Deputies began funneling the backed up traffic through the scene as they could while Arkansas State Police conducted their investigation.

The 17-year-old female driver was not identified due to being a minor and the Warren man was not identified on the scene. Information was not available regarding possible citations related to the crash.