1 Injured in 18-wheeler Accident on Route 42 in Mount Solon, VA

Augusta County, VA — November 18, 2024, one person was injured due to a tractor-trailer accident at around 6:00 p.m. along Route 42.

Investigators with the Virginia State Police say that the accident happened just north of the Route 42/Scenic Highway and Badger Road intersection.

According to officials, a driver was in a Chrysler Town & Country van going southbound along Route 42. Up ahead, it appears a tractor-trailer carrying chickens got stuck trying to leave a nearby farm to travel northbound. The trailer was on the southbound lane, and the van crashed into it as a result.

Due to the collision, the driver of the van reportedly had to be airlifted from the scene. Their exact condition wasn’t specified. The truck driver was reportedly evaluated. Right now, no further information about the accident can be confirmed.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

A crash like this can present more challenges than people may realize. A semi-trailer getting stuck on the road is serious enough on its own, so there has to be consideration for why that happened and how it could have been avoided. But beyond that, there also needs to be attention to what steps the truck driver took after the truck became stuck. Did this all happen rather quickly? Or, was this an example of a truck driver blocking lanes of travel, then failing to take precautions to warn motorists of the obstruction?

Here’s an example of why these details are important. I handled a crash not long ago where a truck broke down in the middle of the highway, blocking lanes of travel. Someone hit the disabled truck, and the original story was that the victim “failed to avoid” the obstruction. As we dug into the details, though, evidence completely contradicted those claims.

For one, the truck broke down because the company wasn’t maintaining their vehicles properly. Inevitably, the lack of repairs led to a catastrophic failure—one that easily could have been avoided. Secondly, the truck driver was blocking the roadway for several minutes prior to the collision. At no point did the truck driver put out cones, flares, or make any effort whatsoever to make the obstruction visible to approaching motorists. Finally, on top of all that, the truck didn’t even have to stop in the middle of the road. The driver could have continued driving until they found somewhere safe to pull over. However, our findings showed the driver was inexperienced, so they instead panicked and stopped immediately.

What some might have written off as a straight-forward or open-and-shut case was actually a reckless employer sending broken-down trucks and inexperienced drivers out onto the road. The crash was the result of both mistakes on the road and negligent decisions made long before the driver hit the road. Had that behavior not been called out, that company or their drivers likely would have continued their negligent behavior until more people were hurt.

So what happened here? Was this somehow an unforeseeable, unavoidable accident? Are there issues with the roadway here? Were precautions taken that the news failed to mention? Or, did this happen because a driver made mistakes that a responsible, prudent truck driver would have been able to avoid? Ultimately, it’s up to the evidence to speak for itself, so it’s important to ensure investigators are taking every necessary step to get that evidence as soon as possible.