Yesterday, when he phoned home, he was telling me about having gone past the scene of a really wicked accident near the 249 Mile Post on the eastbound side of Interstate 80 in which a big rig had gone off the road, down over a very steep embankment and when he went by there, he said there was one heck of investigation going on at the time. He said there were all kinds of vehicles indicating investigators, not emergency personnel. His thoughts at that time about the accident were that most likely, due to the drop there, that the driver most likely had not survived.
Hearing about things like that is unsettling enough to those of us back home because anytime you venture out onto the highways, there is always a risk factor involved and when a family member is on the highway 5 days a week, driving between Pittsburgh and the Allentown region -back and forth -every day, that worry factor is bound to be a bit higher then.
This morning he phoned me and told me that he got a bit of the backstory on the accident that had occurred yesterday and that he had driven by the scene while personnel were investigating the wreckage.
He said that the driver of the rig, somehow, miraculously, had survived the crash and managed to get out of the truck and climbed up the hill to the Interstate Highway. A feat that has to be really amazing in and of itself.
But what happened next is totally mind-boggling!
The driver had survived, yes. Had gotten up to the highway only to be hit by another tractor-trailer and killed from that impact!
Here's the write-up about the accident that I found this morning on the CCW Local News website.
TRACTOR-TRAILER DRIVER KILLED
Rig driver survives Pa. crash, but killed by truck
NESCOPECK, Pa. (AP) _ Authorities say a tractor-trailer driver
walked away from an early-morning crash in northeastern
Pennsylvania but was then struck and killed by another truck.
State troopers say the tractor-trailer went down a 150-foot
embankment at about 5 a.m. Tuesday in the eastbound lanes of
Interstate 80 in Nescopeck Township.
Rescue chief Josh Legg of the Sugarloaf Volunteer Fire Company
says the driver managed to get out of the rig and walked back up
the embankment to the side of the road. But Legg says he was then
hit by another truck and died at the scene.
Police said the second vehicle did not stop. The victim's name
has not been released.
Rig driver survives Pa. crash, but killed by truck
NESCOPECK, Pa. (AP) _ Authorities say a tractor-trailer driver
walked away from an early-morning crash in northeastern
Pennsylvania but was then struck and killed by another truck.
State troopers say the tractor-trailer went down a 150-foot
embankment at about 5 a.m. Tuesday in the eastbound lanes of
Interstate 80 in Nescopeck Township.
Rescue chief Josh Legg of the Sugarloaf Volunteer Fire Company
says the driver managed to get out of the rig and walked back up
the embankment to the side of the road. But Legg says he was then
hit by another truck and died at the scene.
Police said the second vehicle did not stop. The victim's name
has not been released.
As you might imagine, this whole scenario has really upset my son -and it upsets me very much too. To think that someone would hit a person -who may have already been seriously injured -who knows? -and then to drive away without stopping, without calling for aid -just sickening, isn't it?
Most truckers I have known over the years are among the most thoughtful, most helpful, people when it comes to assisting at accidents and such but then, there are instances like this that show what must be an extremely callous side to drive away from an accident scene like this.
4 comments:
As one who was a long haul trucker, running all the lower 48 for a year's worth of experimentation, I can relate to this sad story and the feelings of your son.
A tragedy for certain. We'll probably never know the full story.
I have the greatest admiration for truckers. God's speed to your son as he ventures forth on what is often a thankless, no respect, but extremely important job.
Where would this economy be without the hard work of our truckers?
Something like this really shows what a sick, sad place this world can be at times. How anyone could drive away after hitting another person that way is beyond me.
This is very, very unfortunate to escape miraculously from one accident only to be mown down fatally in another.
We have had similar things happen locally. One person escaped a motorway crash, was put in an ambulance that was then smashed into by an articulated lorry with everyone killed.
It is strange to understand why these things happen.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
You are right about most truckers. Growing up, my brother and I had the most respect and admiration for truck drivers. Everyone in my generation knew that truckers knew what they were doing on the highways and they were the most courteous drivers on the roads as well as helpful to all who needed them. Times and money and corporations cold hearts have changed the image of the truckers some; they can't stop to help someone and they have to keep to their schedule if they want to keep their job. But for a trucker to go even further and knowingly drive away after hitting a human being tells me the driver is a coward. Sounds like there are plenty of truckers on that road and it won't be long until truckers can help find the one trucker going through that place at the time of the hit and run.
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