NEBRASKA CITY – While the Nebraska Department of Transportation reports a sharp increase in traffic accidents compared to 2020, Otoe County first responders have been dispatched to multiple crashes in July.

The Otoe County Sheriff’s Office responded Thursday morning to a three-car crash on the westbound exit ramp of highways 2 and 50 at Syracuse.

A Dodge Charger, driven by 22-year-old Tara Stelling of Lincoln, and a Chevrolet Malibu,  driven by 46-year-old Angela Proctor of Syracuse, were stopped on the exit ramp waiting for traffic to clear. An accident report says an exiting pickup truck, driven by 43-year-old Bill Creek of Nebraska City, hit one of the vehicles into the other.

Syracuse Rescue took Proctor and a passenger, 45-year-old Pamela Winkler, to the hospital to be checked out.

Nebraska City police investigated several accidents.

A Ford Taurus hit the back of a car that was waiting for a train to pass on north Sixth Street on Wednesday afternoon.

A south 11th Street driver told police on Wednesday afternoon he was reaching for his cell phone and was distracted. He hit the back of a car that turning on First Corso.

On Monday, a 17-year-old Nebraska City driver hit the driver’s side of vehicle on Sixth Street. The teen told police he did a rolling stop at the Third Avenue stop sign.

On July 11, a driver backing from a driveway at 1114 Second Corso hit a parked car and on July 10 a driver ran a stop sign at the intersection of Steinhart Park Road and Industrial Road and struck and Impala driven by a 25-year-old Nebraska City woman.