Semi-Truck Driver Dies After Being Struck by Flatbed Driver in Crossover Collision

The following report is the product of our Cooperative State partner and is presented here in its original unedited form from the state. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the individual Cooperative State partner and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

SUMMARY

In the winter of 2011, a 46-year-old semi-truck driver (D1) hauling a flatbed trailer was traveling north in the right lane on a four lane interstate. Several minutes ahead of the semi was a pickup truck hauling an extension ladder that fell out onto the northbound travel lanes. A car behind the pickup swerved to avoid the falling ladder. Other cars swerved to avoid the ladder. The semi came upon the ladder and swerving cars. To avoid striking the cars and ladder, the semi driver swerved to the right, over-corrected to the left, drove across the northbound lanes, over a cable barrier, then into the southbound travel lanes. Another semi-truck driver (D2) traveling in the right southbound lane pulling a 53’ trailer struck the cab of the northbound semi. D2 died at the scene, and D1 was ejected and found alive under the right steer tire.

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