Car Topples Jersey Barrier in Route 8 Crash

A female driver escaped with minor injuries after she drove a 2009 Honda Civic into a Jersey Barrier and knocked it over on Route 8 in Naugatuck Saturday night.

The accident occurred around 5:30 p.m. when the woman struck the barrier between Exits 25 and 26 in the southbound lane and totaled her car. The barrier toppled over into the left side of the northbound lane, said Vin Healy, a captain at the Naugatuck Fire Department.

“She left the radiator and most of the car’s front end behind her,” he said, adding that her front and side airbags deployed. “That car did an amazing job protecting her. She should have been hurt much worse. …I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He estimated that the woman was in her late 20s or 30s; her name was not immediately available. The woman was coherent and talking and appeared to have non-life-threatening injuries, said Healy, adding that the woman complained of knee pain. She was taken by ambulance to Waterbury Hospital; Healy said he believes she will likely be treated and released.

The highway was closed for about 10 minutes, and 200 to 300 feet of traffic stopped and waited for emergency crews to arrive, Healy said. The right lanes of both sections of the highway are reopened.

Sibby’s Automotive towed it from the scene.

The state Department of Transportation is heading to the scene with a pay loader to fix the Jersey Barrier, Healy said.

For some context, Jersey Barriers weigh about 600 pounds per linear foot of barrier, according to a report called New Jersey Barrier History, which was published on Roads to the Future, a highway and transportation history website.