Santa Barbara city firefighters responded to an injury accident near the Hot Springs and Coast Village roads roundabout Friday afternoon that snarled traffic in the area.
The cars collided at 1:30 p.m., and an engine responded at 1:37 p.m., slightly slowed down by Highway 101 traffic from a stalled big rig, Battalion Chief Lee Waldron said.
The female driver of the Honda was hit by a Range Rover as one car drove north on Hot Springs Road and the other was driving out of a parking lot at the Montecito Country Mart, Waldron said.
“There was pretty serious intrusion into the passenger compartment of the Honda, and the 56-year-old driver wasn’t complaining of any pain right away but it was a pretty serious mechanism of injury,” he said.
The woman was transported to a Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and complained of some rib pain later.
“It sounds like a minor injury, but because of the seriousness of the accident, it could be that she wasn’t feeling it yet,” Waldron said.
The female driver of the other vehicle was uninjured.
The Honda was damaged enough to require a tow truck and the accident blocked off Hot Springs Road, which tied up traffic in the busy area of the roundabout, shopping center and Highway 101 northbound onramp.
— Noozhawk news editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.