Law Enforcement officials closed the New Jersey Turnpike for approximately five hours last week as crews tried to clean up a truck accident involving a dump truck and tractor-trailer.
This was the second major closure of the turnpike in the past two weeks. The previous accident involved a semi-truck that overturned and caught fire just before 8:30 a.m. on July 30.
The accident occurred near the Mount Laurel exchange, closing two of the northbound lanes for about three hours. No cause of the previous accident has been released.
This latest closure, however, closed the southbound lanes between exits #4 and #2. When first responders arrived on the scene, they found a dump truck pushed off the roadway into the woods.
The other vehicle involved in the accident was a tractor-trailer. The truck was jackknifed, meaning the tractor or cab was spun, meeting the trailer at a 45-degree angle.
The dump truck driver was airlifted to Cooper University Medical Center to be treated for undisclosed injuries that were not life threatening.
In New Jersey, large trucks accounted for 6.5 percent of fatal crashes in 2011, which is better than the nation average of 8.2 percent. Fatal accidents have been steadily declining in New Jersey since 2009, according the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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Spevack’s Did You Know?: In 2011, the number of fatal tractor-trailer crashed was 30, down 13 from the 2007 five year high.
Spevack Law Firm—Middlesex County truck accident attorneys
