Missouri Fatalities in Recent Tractor Trailer Collisions - February 10, 2010

Two recent fatalities on Missouri roadways illustrate the seriousness of car accidents involving 18 wheel tractor trailers. The disproportionate weight difference between automobiles and the size and mass of big rigs often results in serious injury and death even when wearing seat belts and employing other safety devices.  Always use extreme care when traveling on highways and other roads used by over the road trucks. Even where no negligence exist on the part of the truck driver or trucking company, consequences of inattention around such big rigs are considerable. Larger mass means longer stopping distances, less opportunity to avoid crashes and considerably more force upon impact. 

A young woman from Bourbon, Mo was killed at 1:51 Sunday morning on westbound interstate 44 at mile marker 250.4 in Franklin county. The Missouri Highway Patrol reported that Christen Parmley, 22 was fatality injured when her vehicle struck a 2006 freightliner tractor-trailer head on.  Ms. Parmley was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes when she struck the big rig.  She was not wearing a seat belt according to the report and was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Tuesday morning at 7:55 am, another young woman, Savannah L. Harper, 19, of Mammoth Springs, Arkansas was killed when she lost control of her Ford Escort and entered the path of a 2009 Sterling Conventional 18 Wheeler driven by James Miller of Memphis, Tennessee. Ms. Harper was traveling northbound on US 63 in Howell County when she veered into the oncoming semi. She was wearing a seatbelt but died immediately.

Please continue to use care on Missouri highways and roads, particularly when traveling in the presence of big rigs.