SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY- Newsday reports that a driver suffered injuries on the morning of Thursday, April 26, 2018, when her vehicle collided with a fuel truck near the Suffolk County Community College. The crash reportedly occurred around 9:30 a.m. The driver, who was identified as a 48-year-old woman from Oakdale was operating a BMW […]
SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY- Newsday reports that a driver suffered injuries on the morning of Thursday, April 26, 2018, when her vehicle collided with a fuel truck near the Suffolk County Community College. The crash reportedly occurred around 9:30 a.m.
The driver, who was identified as a 48-year-old woman from Oakdale was operating a BMW SUV, which she lost control of causing the vehicle to hit the back of a petroleum truck. The SUV became wedged beneath the truck in the accident.
The driver was rescued from her vehicle by emergency services and taken to Stony Brook University Hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening. No one else was injured in the collision.
The accident briefly closed Nicolls Road to clear the accident.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 28% of all traffic accidents involve a car rear-ending another vehicle. When a passenger vehicle rear-ends another passenger vehicle, the result is often whiplash for the driver in front. However, when a car hits the back of a semi-truck, the car and its occupants are likely going to experience the bulk of the damage.
Rear-end accidents are often the result of the back driver being distracted. In most cases, the driver who hit the car in front of them was looking at a phone, the radio, or engaging in some other activity that led them not looking at the road ahead.
On average, semi-trucks weigh about 20 to 30 times that of a passenger vehicle. The huge difference in mass creates a situation where the passenger vehicles are vulnerable. Additionally, trucks are taller than cars and SUVs. The space beneath a truck can easily create scenarios where other vehicles crash beneath, or underride the truck.
