Heavy-duty trucks and long haul trucks can be seen traveling on our nation’s roadways every day of the year and at any time of day transporting freight from one point to another. An official with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that there are more than 1.2 million interstate motor carriers in the U.S. This figure includes owner-operators, as well as public and private carriers that transport billions of tons of freight every year. Based on their sheer size and weight, when a passenger vehicle gets into a collision with a big rig, it can have a deadly outcome.
According to a story reported by NPR, such an accident happened last month. On Thursday, September 12th, at about 2:11 p.m., officers with the State Police in New Mexico were called to investigate a double crash along New Mexico Highway 26 near mile marker 44.
Investigators with the state police found that Jerry Douglas Livingston, 76 of Tucson, driving a 2008 Chrysler, had been traveling eastbound on the highway when he inexplicably crossed the center line, his vehicle colliding into a big rig that was traveling westbound on the same highway.
Both the driver and his wife, Margaret Ann Livingston, 72, were killed in the crash and pronounced dead at the scene by officials with the Office of the Medical Examiner.
The driver of the 18-wheeler was uninjured in the crash. His identity has not been released because no charges were filed against him in connection to the accident.
