Fall asleep at wheel kills 3 on Ohio Turnpike

What looks like a classic fall-asleep-at-the-wheel crash occurred at 21:55 (9:55pm) Saturday night on the Ohio Turnpike leaving the tractor-trailer driver and two boys dead in the wreckage. AP quotes a state highway patrol officer as saying the tractor-trailer carrying a load of apples eastbound crashed into an overpass.

The Sandusky Register reports an eye witness as saying the truck, traveling at full highway speed drifted off the right went across a drainage swale, then climbed the embankment and only stopped when it crashed into the approach span of an overpass bridge, ending up squashed underneath its low clearance (see pic).

No other vehicle was involved.

Dead is a 33 year old truck driver from Rebersburg PA and also his 10 year old and 3 year old sons riding along with their dad.

The tragedy occurred in Groton Township at the Erie-Sandusky County line.

The bridge under which the tractor and the front of the trailer was wedged has been closed to check on structural damage. Heavy equipment was needed to get to the bodies in the tractor cab.

Clearly the standard protections against such crashes - rumble strips to wake the driver and guard-rails or barriers to keep the vehicle in the roadway - failed.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-08-10 ADDITIONS 2008-08-11