UPS identified two of its drivers as among the five people killed in Sunday morning’s crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Daniel Kepner, 53, and Dennis Kehler, 48, were driving together in a tractor-trailer out of the UPS’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, operations center.
“Our drivers will be missed and our thoughts and prayers go out to their families,” UPS said in a statement to FreightWaves.
Kehler had 28 years of service with UPS, while Kepner had been with the company for five.
Their truck was among the three tractor-trailers involved in the Jan. 5 pileup in the westbound lanes of the Turnpike, 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. About 60 people were also injured in the crash.
The incident occurred about 3:40 a.m. when a tour bus crashed into an embankment. Two of the trucks hit it shortly after, and a third then struck the two tractor-trailers, Pennsylvania State Police said.
UPS did not release any details about a second UPS tractor-trailer that appears to have been involved in the crash, based on photos from the scene of the accident.
A FedEx Ground tractor-trailer also appears to have have been part of the crash, though the company has yet to release any details or information about the drivers.
Both UPS and FedEx pledged to cooperate with investigators and offered sympathies to the victims.
Police have yet to pinpoint an underlying cause of the series of crashes. Investigators are working with the National Transportation Safety Board.
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John OCALLAHAN
RIP TO THOSE DRIVERS nasny Fedr
Art
Very unfortunate.
CDL driving is a dangerous job but the pay is not much better than a warehouse job at Amazon.
The freight rates and driver pay are a joke as if truck driving is a fun vacation.
$40k annual income at Swift risking a crash like this.
Roger
If you’re making 40k driving a truck you’re doing something wrong. My wife and I make 70-80k each driving teams. We are company drivers with full benefits.
Steve
I know of leased ops in Canada that made less than 60 k Canadain or 46k U S in 2019. It was a very bad year in Canada.
Art
Even at $70k annual, pay is $19 ph for 70 hours on duty not counting sleeping away from home.
Trucking driving should be at least $25 ph for experienced drivers.
Pay is just not appropriate for the health and death risk of the job.
FW and trade press reporting driver pay is skyrocketing need a reality check.
While office workers are getting paid $25-$50 ph to sit at desks for 8 hours surfing porn, facebook, and linkedin.
HR
Come work for Steel Transportation Services out of Flint MI. Our drivers make over $40K annually.
Troy
Unfortunately that’s why you do not stop at the scene of an accident if you can avoid it. There will be serious lawsuits and as the reporter said a fed ex truck may have also been apart of the accident “according to pictures at the scene” that fed ex truck is now apart of the investigation and most likely will be sued as well as the driver, regardless if he was involved or not. Lawyers go after everyone including innocent bystanders if they can get money.
Elvis Durant
Driving in Pennsylvania turning into a DEATH SENTENCE lately. Idiots cant salt them roads enough!!