Anyone who frequently navigates Pennsylvania I-81 South understands what a dangerous stretch of highway it can be. The average motorist may encounter numerous lines of tractor-trailers traveling at high speeds at any given time. Road conditions and traffic patterns on an interstate often change abruptly. Police say this appears to be what happened on a recent Wednesday evening, which led to two disastrous collisions.
A tractor-trailer driver reportedly hit the brakes suddenly because of shift in the traffic pattern ahead. The car directly behind the truck slammed into the back of the trailer. A second crash followed when another tractor-trailer hit the car from behind, pinning the smaller vehicle in between the two massive trucks.
The car became engulfed with flames with the occupants still in the vehicle. Sadly, three people in the car were pronounced dead at the scene. Police say the investigation of the collision is still underway.
There have been many similar Pennsylvania collisions in the past where fatalities occur after a vehicle traveling behind another fails to stop in time and causes a rear-end collision. In any case, if a driver is determined to have been negligent resulting in the death of another person, an immediate family member of the decedent may file a wrongful death claim in civil court. This enables a grieving family to seek financial recovery for their losses; a judge ruling in a plaintiff’s favor would then award compensation for documented damages, which can help the family in question cover funeral costs and other expenses associated with their loved one’s death.
