Head-On Collision on I-81 in Virginia
Posted on February 27, 2008
Filed Under IN THE NEWS
Wednesday February 26, on I-81, near Harrisonburg, VA, a southbound tractor trailer crossed the median and hit a northbound van head-on. Both occupants of the van were killed.
Check out the comments at the bottom of the page, particularly those of “Bill” and “Craig”. Both claim to have witnessed the crash, and stated the truck driver was forced out of control by another car. The vast majority of fatalities involving commercial motor vehicles, probably around 70-80% are caused by four-wheelers, aka cars. Sometimes a truck driver has to make some tough, split-second choices. Do I hit this idiot who just cut me off, or should I jerk the truck to the left, risking the chance of losing it altogther?
Of course, the one factor which can make all the difference in one of these bang-bang, split second events is speed. Totally speculating here, but truck traffic on I-81 generally runs pretty fast. If you’re running 70-75 mph, your chances of losing it if you’re cut off are much greater than if you’re running 60-65 mph. While the instigator of this accident was whatever car “Bill” and “Craig” were referring to, tragedy could have been averted had the truck been able to maintain control. Again, I wasn’t there so I’m just speculating.
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