The lunch hour was a dangerous time to be on the road in Niles Thursday.

Public safety officials worked the scenes of two crashes involving juvenile drivers within the span of an hour — one in the City of Niles and one in Niles Township.

The first was a two-car accident that occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. on M-139 just north of Walton Road.

Trooper Matthew Totten, of the Michigan State Police, said the driver of a PT Cruiser rear-ended a Jeep Cherokee after the Jeep stopped to turn into the parking lot at Wolverine Electrical Contracting. Both vehicles were traveling north on M-139, which is also referred to as old US-31.

Totten said the driver and two passengers in the PT Cruiser were all Niles High School students. The Jeep contained two senior citizens from Niles.

Two juveniles in the PT Cruiser and one elderly female in the Jeep were transported to the hospital for the treatment of minor injuries, Totten said.

Totten did not release the names of the people involved in the crash and said a preliminary investigation indicates the driver of the PT Cruiser was distracted, but did not provide

further details.

The second crash — also a two-vehicle accident — occurred on South 11th Street just north of Fort Street at approximately 12:30 p.m.

Sgt. Scott Swanson, of the Niles Police Department, said a truck containing four juveniles turned north out of the Taco Bell parking lot onto South 11th Street and collided with a black van traveling north on South 11th Street.

Swanson said the truck was at fault and that one person in the truck was transported to the hospital for minor injuries.

Swanson did not release the names of those involved in the accident.