The three victims stayed in the vehicle after it stalled in a
drive lane on I-84 and died when it was hit by a truck
MONTICELLO – Three people died in a predawn disaster on I-84 Wednesday morning. Sullivan County’s Commissioner of Public Safety, Richard Martinkovic, said there is a good chance they could have survived, perhaps unharmed, if they had done one thing.
“If you break down on the highway, you’ve got to get clear of your vehicle,” Martinkovic warned.
That means getting off the road and off the shoulder, preferably behind a guard rail if there is one.
The three who died were in the vehicle when it was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer. The driver of the car was on the phone with a 911 operator, who heard the deadly crash.
Martinkovic, who is involved at the state level with accident response planning and training, told the county Legislature’s Public Safety Committee on Thursday that special training is given to those who respond to crashes.
“Police, our fire, our EMS and our highway workers and the tow industry, that as they come to these accidents, they are able to work safely to do the job they have to do.”
Martinkovic noted that is one reason why police, when they stop a vehicle on a major highway, always approach the passenger side of the car, never the driver side. He recalled two examples in the past year or so, including one in New Jersey where a trooper, standing near a stopped vehicle but close to the road, was hit and killed by another vehicle.
