Traffic was snarled on U.S. 20 east of C.R. 29 east of Elkhart for a while Tuesday evening after a pair of three-car accidents occurred about an hour and a mile and a half apart.

In the first accident, around 4:30 p.m., Jeremy Yoder, 26, of Elkhart, driving a red Mazda Miata, was turning into a driveway in the 16000 block of U.S. 20 east of S.R. 15 when Davidson Chezem, 31, of Plymouth, driving a gray Kia Optima, rear-ended him, pushing the first car into the path of a white Chrysler Town & Country minivan, driven by Dianne Walsworth, 50, of Middlebury, in the oncoming lane.

Yoder and Chezem were taken by Jefferson Township medical personnel to Elkhart General Hospital, while Walsworth was taken to IU Health Goshen Hospital, according to Sheriff’s Department Patrolman Scott Gould. All three had complaints of neck and back pain, and all were wearing seat belts. Chezem was issued a citation for going too fast to avoid a collision.

As our reporter started to travel back to Elkhart from the scene of the crash, she witnessed a second three-car accident at about 5:30 p.m. near the intersection of U.S. 20 and C.R. 27. A red Nissan Versa driven by Joel Hoover, 21, of Elkhart, was stopped in the roadway due to the earlier accident when a Ford F-150 driven by Tyler Pires, 19, of Goshen, rear-ended a black Chevy Malibu, driven by James Handy, 41 of Hicksville, Ohio, which ran into the back of the Versa.

Handy and Hoover were taken to IU Health Goshen Hospital by Jefferson Township medics. Pires was not hurt in the accident, but was cited for following too closely, according to Sheriff’s Department Patrolman Andrew Ahlersmeyer.