A shocking truck accident on I-95 in Volusia County on Monday ended in the death of one driver, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The fatal accident occurred at around 11:30 p.m. Monday night near mile marker 223 in the southern section of the county, troopers say.

According to state troopers, an unidentified person was driving a 2000 Chevrolet pickup truck southbound on I-95. It suddenly swerved to the left, crossed the median into northbound traffic and collided with a tractor-trailer driven by a 50-year-old man from Jacksonville.

After hitting the semi-truck, the pickup overturned and burst into flames. The driver was still inside and died at the scene. State troopers have not yet identified the driver to the press or released any information about whether the driver was male or female.

The Florida Highway Patrol does not have any information about why the driver of the Chevy pickup swerved out of his lane and crossed the median. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured in the truck accident.

Collisions With Tractor-Trailers Can Be Far More Deadly Than Other Crashes

This tragic truck accident demonstrates one important aspect of commercial vehicle accidents. The size and weight differential between a commercial truck and a passenger vehicle is so great that a collision can cause catastrophic damage to the smaller vehicle. Even larger passenger vehicles such as pickup trucks can face disastrous consequences when they collide with something as large as a tractor-trailer.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in accidents involving commercial trucks, roughly 69 percent of all fatalities were to occupants of a passenger vehicle, and another 14 percent were motorcyclists, pedestrians or bicyclists.

Our sympathies go out to the family of the deceased motorist, and we urge all drivers to take special care on the roads.

Source: Orlando Sentinel, “One dead after truck, tractor trailer collide on I-95 in Volusia, FHP says,” Gary Taylor, November 30, 2010