Trucks collide on New York Thruway
Two trucks owned by Elizabeth N.J.-based New England Motor Freight collided on the New York Thruway near Tuxedo, N.Y. at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, 200 feet from the Arden Station Road overpass.
Driver Gary Akehurst, 58, brought his truck to a stop on the shoulder and did not inform his dispatch nor log his stop, reported the Times Herald-Record. A second driver, John Johnson III, drifted into the shoulder and crashed into the back of Akehurst's truck. Akehurst's tuck was pushed 80 feet forward from the collision, and Johnson's truck became engulfed in flames.
Neither driver survived the accident, which was described to the Times Herald-Record by Ernest Hardy, NEMF vice president, as the worst accident in his 30-year career.
Drivers coming through Tuxedo after the accident were trapped on the thruway for nine hours until it reopened at 11:30 a.m.
New England Motor Freight, a less-than-truckload carrier that employs 2,700 people, could not be reached for comment.
Trucks collide on New York Thruway
