Drivers in a head-on car crash on Honeymoon Bay Road were OK, thanks to the “glancing” angle of the collision, first responders said.

Camille Benson was driving north on the Freeland road when she veered into the southbound lane in her Ford Explorer Sport Trac directly toward Jennifer Knapp’s Buick Le Sabre. Knapp said she was stuck between veering into the other lane or into a ditch, so she chose to hug the ditch and took the impact to the front driver-side panel of her sedan.

The impact broke off the front driver wheel of Benson’s Explorer, which rolled onto its face with the shock absorber and CV joint thrust toward the sunny sky Tuesday morning.

“There was nowhere to swerve,” said Knapp, 67, of Langley. “It was a split second.”

Knapp said she was near the turn to Chip Shot Way when she saw Benson veer into her lane near the intersection with Dunlap Drive. That would put the two drivers about two-tenths of a mile apart when Benson faced oncoming traffic.

Even without a wheel, Benson managed to hobble the three-wheeled Explorer off the main road and onto Chip Shot Way.

Washington State Patrol investigated the crash and the trooper cited Benson for causing the crash.

Both women refused medical treatment from first responders with South Whidbey Fire/EMS and Whidbey General Hospital EMS.

No one else was involved in the collision.

The crash closed the southbound lane of Honeymoon Bay Road from about 10:45 until 11:45.