Center Valley, PA — There was a fatal accident early this morning (Tuesday, October 21, 2014) that claimed the life of a man from Richland Township: 52-year old Robert Burton.
Police said that Burton was killed at about 3:15 a.m. on I-78 after his car was rear-ended by a semi-truck. Apparently, Burton had been driving east along I-78 that morning near mile marker 63 when his car came to a stop in the middle of its lane.
As Burton’s car sat disabled in the road, it was rear-ended by a passing semi-truck that wasn’t able to brake in time. The accident caused a fire, which sent Burton to a local hospital.
A little over an hour later, Burton died from his injuries. Police aren’t giving a lot of details right now, but according to their reports, the truck driver claimed Burton’s car did not have any lights on at the time.
This is being investigated some more.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
The truck driver here is alleging that he couldn’t see the victim’s car because its lights weren’t illuminated that morning. Now, it’s very possible that was the case and there was just nothing he could have done to prevent this wreck from happening. But, folks, I’ve been handling trucking accidents for a long time now, so maybe I’m just getting a little cynical here.
Perhaps there’s something here I’m not seeing, but reflector lights on car bumpers are made….to reflect light. If this semi-truck had its headlights on, it should have caught and reflected the lights from the disabled car’s bumper – even if the disabled car didn’t have its lights turned on. My point here is that I don’t think “his lights were turned off” is a good excuse for slamming into the back of a stopped car on the freeway. Even though it’s possible that I’m missing something here, I think it’s just as possible that this semi-truck driver just wasn’t paying enough attention to stop in time. After all, who’s going to argue his story, since he’s the only witness to the accident?
— Grossman Law Offices
