Tractor-trailer driver doesn't see slower traffic, killing 3

A horrific trucking crash on the opposite side of Pennsylvania may have some people talking after a trucker appears to have not been paying attention to traffic, slamming into the back of a vehicle and causing a seven-vehicle accident. Not only did the tractor-trailer driver cause a serious crash, but that crash also left three people dead. Sadly, the driver of the vehicle that was hit and the driver and passenger of the vehicle in front of him, were unable to escape their burning cars.

Tractor-trailers are not always dangerous. If they are driven by safety-conscious truckers who are alert and paying attention, they are just another kind of vehicle on the road. When the driver is distracted, tired or otherwise not devoting all of his or her attention to the road, a tractor-trailer is a heavy misslie just waiting to cause an accident.

According to reports, the early afternoon accident was caused when the trucker failed to notice that traffic was slowing in front of him. Instead of slowing and stopping like an observant driver would have, he seems to have smashed into the back of a 52-year-old Allentown man’s car. His car was then pushed into the vehicle of a York couple. Both cars caught fire and the three people inside died.

Though it is unclear if the truck driver will face criminal charges for his apparnet negligence, he and the trucking company for which he works could face very serious motor vehicle accident lawsuits. If the families of the passengers who were killed can show that the trucker was negligent, they may be able to collect on wrongful death lawsuits.

Source: 

The Lehigh Valley Express-Times, “Allentown man among dead in fiery Interstate 78 crash in Berks County,” Tony Rhodin, May 14, 2014