A woman died, and two other people were injured in a crash early Tuesday at North Front Street and Indiana Avenue in North Philadelphia, after an SUV collided with a minivan at the intersection, authorities said.
The collision happened shortly after 6 a.m. at a traffic light along North Front Street, a busy multi-lane roadway that cuts through a dense residential section of the city. Video from the scene shows the SUV striking the rear of the minivan before veering off course and hitting a utility pole and a wall.
Two women were inside the SUV. One was pronounced dead following the crash; the second was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The driver of the minivan, a man who was alone in the vehicle, was also hospitalized and listed in stable condition. Emergency crews used hydraulic tools to remove the occupants of the SUV from the wreckage.
A nearby resident, Jennifer Lopez, said the impact was severe. “It looked like she was doing a hundred,” she said. Lopez said she called 911 after hearing the crash and went outside, where she saw smoke coming from one of the vehicles. “We tried to come to this car and see if there was people inside, but the car was smoking. I thought it was going to blow up,” she said.
“It was really, really horrible,” Lopez said.
Authorities have not released an official determination of speed. The intersection is located in a 25-mile-per-hour zone, consistent with Philadelphia’s default speed limit on most neighborhood streets.
Lopez said traffic along the corridor often exceeds the posted limit – her own vehicle was hit in a crash at the same location just days earlier. “I hope after this, they put some speed bumps or something here. To be able to help the people in the community,” she said.
No names have been released, and investigators have not yet said what factors contributed to the crash.