Roadside Responder Is Struck by a Box Truck and Dies

On a winter day, a 53-year-old retired fire chief was working for an environmental company to clean up a tractor trailer crash along an interstate. A semi tractor-trailer driver had fallen asleep and crashed. The environmental company had been deployed to assist in the cleanup and facilitate a lane closure. The cleanup was almost complete and there were five workers left at the incident site. They were working in the right lane loading a tag-along trailer with items from the crash when a box truck crashed into the work zone, striking the worker, and killing him.

To prevent future occurrences of similar incidents, the following recommendations have been made:

Recommendation No. 1: Companies should provide new and refresher commercial driver safety training for company drivers that addresses driver distraction and includes defensive driving techniques.

Recommendation No. 2: Companies should institute errant traffic alert procedures for roadside work zones.

Recommendation No. 3: Commercial tractor-trailer drivers should be trained to recognize signs of fatigue and when to seek appropriate rest areas.