A real mess out there this morning and the weather with high winds, rain and cold seems to be generating some traffic accidents.
Just got back from a Route 4 fatal crash – a tractor trailer from New Jersey went off the east side of the road while traveling northbound. The single occupant of the truck was killed, police confirmed. Police said witnesses reported the driver trying to correct from some kind of skid leading up to the crash. But no cause was expected to be known for some time. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.
The scene, approaching but south of the village of Whitehall, has Route 4 closed down it has been that way for a few hours now.
The scene is about five miles from the Route 4 Route 22 intersection.
I would not expect the road to open very soon because when I left the scene the truck had not been pulled out of the ditch yet.
Four wreckers – yes four – were working on pulling the container truck back up onto the road surface and they were struggling to do it.
The large purple tractor trailer had a shipping container on the back like those that come off of ocean-going container ships.
No report yet on the identification of the driver pending next of kin and no accident team working at the scene at that time.
Unsubstantiated reports say the driver took the ditch over crossing into oncoming traffic.
