Tragedy struck in Lindsey, Calif., this past Friday when a semi tractor-trailer crushed a passenger sedan and killed a woman inside, injuring two others.
A spokesman from the local fire department said the truck accident occurred near the crossing of Avenue 224 and Road 196 in town around 1 p.m. on Friday. The truck was carrying two trailers of oranges, each trailer 28 feet long and massing multiple tons. The truck collided with the side of a 1995 Volkswagen Passat sedan. The collision drove the Passat for many feet and smashed it into the side of a tree, crushing the vehicle and pinning the three passengers of the car inside with no way out.
The driver of the vehicle was killed instantly, though it is unclear whether her side of the vehicle struck the tree or was hit by the truck. The other passengers were taken to two local hospitals, one via ambulance and the other through emergency airlift. No information has been released about the deceased driver or the other two passengers except that the two survivors were taken to Kaweah Delta Medical Center and Community Regional Medical Center for their treatments.
The accident shows how helpless the drivers of smaller vehicles are in an accident with a semi truck. There are no safety measures that would have helped in this case; side curtain airbags don’t mean that much when a multi-ton vehicle collides with a much smaller car.
No information has been released on the driver of the orange carrier, and indeed there is very little specific information about the accident. There is no word that the police have become involved, nor is it clear whether the semi or the sedan was the vehicle at fault in the collision. Regardless of fault, however, it is clear that the incident was tragic.
