Crash Kills One Driver On I-40 Near Yukon

<p>West of Yukon on Interstate 40 near Banner Road, a crash leaves one man dead. It happened early Thursday morning. An Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman says the victim likely didn&rsquo;t see the unusual obstruction in the road.</p>

Thursday, December 7th 2017, 7:25 pm

By: News 9


West of Yukon on Interstate 40 near Banner Road, a crash leaves one man dead. It happened early Thursday morning. An Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman says the victim likely didn’t see the unusual obstruction in the road.

A semi-truck pulling a flatbed trailer was parked on I-40 going eastbound. 

Note: Troopers initially reported the tractor-trailer was mistakenly parked on the far right lane. Troopers later reported the tractor-trailer was parked on the outside shoulder of the road and attempted to merge back onto the highway when it was hit by the box truck.

“He actually thought he was on the shoulder already,” said Captain Timmons. He said the driver didn’t realize he didn’t pull all the way over when he stopped to do paperwork.

This was a 70 mph speed zone. Plus, the area is dark before sunrise. Timmons said a driver in a bobtail truck ran into the rear of the semi. Video shows the bobtail truck wrecked with a shattered windshield and the hood of the car pushed into the driver’s seat.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. Timmons said he was a young man.

“The driver of that bobtail truck probably didn’t realize that the semi was actually stopped in a lane of traffic until it was too late,” said Timmons. “He didn’t have a chance to take very much evasive action at all. That area is not lit so it would probably be hard to tell whether or not a vehicle is stopped in the middle of the road.”

Timmons encourages drivers to pull entirely off the interstate if they need to pull off the road. He recommends using a rest stop or convenience store parking lot to avoid deadly situations like this.

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