A 50-year-old man was ticketed for careless driving after he hit a light pole on the entrance ramp going to North U.S. Highway 70 around 3 p.m. Thursday, a New Mexico State Police spokesman said.
Patrolman Gerard Silva said the man was traveling east on the entrance ramp to U.S. Highway 70 then veered off the roadway and over corrected his 2003 silver Dodge pickup truck.
"The driver looked back to see if anybody was coming from the west before he approached the ramp," Silva said. "He took his eyes off the road. He went off the roadway and overcorrected the vehicle."
He said the vehicle was traveling north on the ramp but the overcorrection caused the vehicle to slide sideways then turn the vehicle around to point the front end to the south and collide into the light pole on the driver's side, which turned the vehicle onto its passengers side.
"He rolled over one time and rested on its side," Silva said. "The driver was wearing his seat belt and was not injured in the single vehicle accident."
He said when a vehicle leaves the roadway, a driver needs to ride it out.
"A driver is not going to get their vehicle back onto the roadway by cranking or jerking the wheel," Silva said. "Drivers need to pump the brake and ride it out. I think it's instinct to jerk the wheel over."
---Duane Barbati
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