Rural Valley, PA — Three people were hospitalized after a coal truck rear-ended their vehicle in Rural Valley, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, July 15, 2015. The accident took on Route 85, at the intersection of North Water Street.
A pickup truck carrying three individuals — identified as 50-year-old Ronald Gulish, 87-year-old Michael Gulish, and 50-year-old Tammy Gulish — and had stopped at the intersection to turn onto North Water when it was hit from behind by the coal truck being driven by 36-year-old Kristopher Owens.
Owens was not injured in the accident. The three inside the pickup were all taken to ACMH for treatment of minor injuries.
Witnesses are speculating that the coal truck was traveling too fast to stop. The investigation into the accident is ongoing.
Scene of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary
So many accidents that come across my desk could be avoided if drivers would do just a few small things. If drivers would 1) drive at a safe speed, they might find it easier to stop whenever something they weren’t expecting happens on the road. After that, drivers should 2) follow the vehicles ahead of them at a safe distance. So many drivers follow others too closely on the highway. The truth of the matter is, you just don’t know what the person ahead of you is going to do at any given time, and when you leave virtually no room to stop between yourself and another vehicle, you’re just asking for an accident to happen. Leaving that space between your vehicle and the one ahead of you will give you that time to react, and to make sure that a collision doesn’t take place. These are instances of where small things truly can make a big difference. It doesn’t sound like the driver of the coal truck involved in this accident was doing either. And now he’s responsible for the people that he’s hurt. Luckily, this accident wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.
— Grossman Law Offices