In what is becoming a traditional school year rite, a string of cars piled into one another on Highway 525 Tuesday morning as the bell for morning classes rang at South Whidbey High School.

A seven-vehicle accident on Highway 525 sent four students who were on their way to school to Whidbey General Hospital and detoured traffic around the Maxwelton Road intersection for more than an hour. Unusual for the number of cars involved, the multi-vehicle collision had Washington State Patrol Trooper Julie Swanson examining witness statements and crash data into Tuesday afternoon as she tried to sort out who would be cited as responsible for the accident.

Swanson, who has investigated other, smaller chain-reaction crashes at the Maxwelton-Highway 525 intersection, said she was surprised by the number of collisions even considering the conditions.

“It looks like too many cars following too close,” she said.

As she was putting together an accident report for the State Patrol, Swanson said it is likely that she will give out at least two citations in connection with the accident, if not more. According to witness statements, she said, the 7:30 a.m. accident occurred as vehicles stopped for a red light in the southbound lane of Highway 525. The first collision occurred when a Ford Galaxy 500 driven by Freeland resident and South Whidbey High School student Roy Ishii collided with the back end of a late-model Ford Ranger pickup. His car was in turn struck from behind by a Ford Explorer, which was hit by Honda Civic.

Ishii’s description of the accident differed from that reported by the State Patrol. He said he was fully stopped when the cars behind him struck his car and pushed him forward.

“I was watching the car behind me. I could see its back end come up when it got hit by the car behind it,” he said.

Behind the Honda Civic, the drivers of a Toyota Camry and a Ford Mustang were able to stop their cars before colliding with the group in front of them. But they became part of the chain reaction when a Chevrolet pickup hit the Mustang and pushed the two cars forward into the back of the Honda.

Taken to the hospital were the occupants of the Mustang, driver Jonathan Arnold and passenger Ryan Westgard of Clinton, and the occupants of the Honda, driver Adam Skaardao and passenger Jennifer Pan. None suffered serious injuries and were treated at the hospital, then released.

Several cars suffered severe damage in the crash. Suffering total losses were the owners of the Galaxie 500 and the Honda.

Citations will be given to the drivers responsible for causing the accident after the State Patrol finishes its investigation.