Car Strikes Telephone Poles, Downing Wires and Diverting Traffic in Fanwood

A car careened into two telephone poles on South Avenue in Fanwood on Friday morning, downing wires and forcing a partial closure of the thoroughfare at the start of the morning rush hour. The driver, who was not identified by police, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported by ambulance to Overlook Hospital in Summit.

Shortly before 7:20 a.m., the car – a brown, 1980s-era Honda Civic – was traveling east on South Avenue when it crashed into a telephone pole across the street from the former Chippery Restaurant. The force of the collision snapped the telephone pole in half and sent wires tumbling onto the street. The car kept moving and, 500 feet away, slammed head-first into a second pole near the intersection of South Avenue and Beech Street. 

Fanwood and units, with assistance from the , closed South Avenue between Old South Avenue and Laurel Place as emergency workers treated the driver and utility workers moved the downed wires from the street. The crash remains under investigation.