Truck plows into 10 vehicles on I-80 in Jackson Township; no one injured

By Andrew Scott Pocono Record Writer August 18, 2011 12:00 AM

State police say a tractor-trailer's brake failure appears to have caused a 10-vehicle crash Wednesday on Interstate 80 east in Jackson Township.
Miraculously, no injuries were reported in the crash, which happened just above the Crescent Lake rest area around 10:40 a.m.
Tractor-trailer driver Julio Fernandez, 51, of Clifton, N.J., said he was hauling cardboard.
A&D Logistics of North Bergen, N.J., was the company identified on the cab Fernandez was driving and the letters "UASC" were on the trailer.
Police said Fernandez was driving too fast for the downhill grade and unable to stop in time to avoid hitting traffic stopped in front of him.
The tractor-trailer drove down the middle of the road, hitting vehicles in both the left and right lanes before going off onto the left shoulder.
"I hit a lot of cars," Fernandez said afterward, sitting on an embankment as tow truck drivers worked to remove the tractor-trailer.
First responders initially reported the crash to be a "mass casualty incident" but that turned out to be unfounded.
Police and Jackson and Pocono Township firefighters responded along with ambulance and tow truck crews, closing both eastbound lanes for about two hours.
Police said a preliminary investigation confirmed the tractor-trailer's brakes were faulty, but said the vehicle will undergo an inspection to determine any other failures.
A woman answering the number listed on A&D Logistics website told a reporter it was the wrong number.

 

I just would like to know how many years of experience this driver had.

 

Well, the article states there was a break failure.... I'm not sure if he's going to get away with that. Driving too fast for conditions may be another one. Downhill on I-80 when the speed limit is 50MpH. I often see trucks coming down that hill with at least 60 MpH.

 

Sure the article is incomplete in many ways. I-80 Eastbound coming down the hill through Stroudsburg is a trouble spot with short entry/exit ramps, construction etc. I live in the area and I've seen many accidents, because traffic gets backed up when it's really busy. One really has to keep proper following distance and pay attention to what's going on ahead. The article states it happened near Crescent Lake; that would be at the beginning of the downhill area, but where I-380 merges in from the left. There was a backup due to construction further down the road. I can only guess that he came down the hill at 60 MpH and found all lanes blocked; then he had to hit the brakes hard. As I said, I've seen many trucks coming through there at 60Mph+; most of the time it's not a big problem when traffic is light. You've got to prepared to slow down and stop though. I don't want to fry this guy either, I'm sure PennDOT is going to do that already. Unfortunately we'll never know all the details.