Rain likely a factor in two accidents on Kansas Turnpike

Two accidents, possibly related to the rainy weather, occurred Friday morning on the Kansas Turnpike near the Leavenworth-Wyandotte county line.

No serious injuries occurred in either accident.

The first accident occurred about 7:30 a.m., according to a Kansas Turnpike Authority report. Sarah Updike, 30, Kansas City, Kan., spun out of control in her 2005 Lincoln Navigator while driving west on the turnpike, just west of mile marker 222. The vehicle stopped on the Wolf Creek Bridge, blocking some traffic until it was cleared about an hour later, a turnpike dispatch officer said.

Neither Updike nor the vehicle’s two passengers, both children, was seriously injured, the officer said.

The second accident, involving three vehicles, happened shortly afterward. The car failed to stop in time when approaching a line of vehicles stopped because of the first crash.

That vehicle, driven by Larry Braun, 53, of Decatur, Ind., struck a vehicle from behind, causing it to strike another vehicle in front of it. No one was seriously injured in that accident.