According to WFMZ, two women driving in a slow-moving car due to a flat tire were fatally injured after being hit by a semi in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morning.
Details of the Fatal Trucking Accident
Brooke Hughes, 18, and Chaniya Morrison-Toomey, 19, were driving south on Interstate 380 when their car received a flat tire. Hughes, the driver, started to drive slowly in the right-most lane when the accident occurred.
A tractor-trailer approached the car and was unable to stop, crashing into the car and throwing the car into a guardrail, reports WFMZ. The car came to rest in the right lane of the interstate before bursting into flames. Both of the women were killed in the crash.
The driver of the 18-wheeler was uninjured, according to WFMZ. The southbound lanes were closed for several hours as crews cleaned up the wreckage from the fatal accident.
Trucking Accident Statistics
The following information regarding 18-wheeler accidents is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
- In 2014, there were 3,903 fatalities in crashes involving large trucks.
- An estimated 111,000 people were injured in crashes involving large trucks in 2014.
- In 2014, an estimated 438,000 large trucks were involved in police-reported traffic crashes.
- Occupants of other vehicles made up 73 percent of the fatalities in large-truck related crashes in 2014.
- There was a 19 percent increase in the number of injured occupants of other vehicles involved in large-truck traffic crashes from 2013 to 2014.
- Large trucks accounted for eight percent of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes in 2014.
