One Killed, One Injured in Box Truck Crash on I-25 near Colorado Springs, CO
Colorado Springs, CO — January 11, 2023, a box truck's passenger died and its driver was injured in a crash on Interstate 25 near Colorado Springs.
Authorities say the incident happened around 11:30 a.m. on northbound I-25 near mile marker 135. Preliminary investigation suggests a Freightliner box truck was headed north on the freeway when it may have gone out of control for unknown reasons. The truck hit a guardrail, then swerved off the road. It briefly went airborne, then overturned upon landing.
The truck's 44-year-old passenger was fatally injured in the crash. Its 41-year-old driver was transported to a hospital for treatment of serious injuries.
The investigation continues. No further information is currently available.
I can't count how many times I've seen single-vehicle accidents that were caused by something out of the driver's hands. Unfortunately, people tend to see "single-vehicle" in a headline and think to themselves "there's only one vehicle involved, so the driver must be to blame." Let me tell you what that simple logic misses.
For one thing, given that commercial drivers are specially trained and many of them have years of experience doing what they do it's pretty rare for them to make mistakes this serious. That's why it's important to carefully investigate other possibilities—mechanical issues in the truck, road hazards and design, the truck being run off the road by another vehicle, or even an incapacitating medical emergency taking the driver's control away, just to name a few.
The bottom line is that many crashes aren't nearly as simple as they might first seem, and that's just as true for commercial truck accidents. Investigators must consider and examine all the possible ways the wreck on I-25 might have occurred, then find the facts and evidence showing which is the real explanation. The people affected by the accident deserve no less; I just hope authorities can get them some helpful answers.
