The driver of a pickup suffered only minor injuries when his pickup truck slammed into the back of a big rig on Thursday, Feb. 6. The 5 a.m. accident occurred near Kearny Mesa on southbound State Route 163, near the State Route 52 interchange.
The pickup truck hit the rear of a parked big rig pulled off to the side of the highway. The big rig’s oversized load appeared to be part of a home. The impact of the crash sent the badly damaged pickup to the middle lanes of the highway where it came to rest on its side.
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A gray sedan also sustained damage in the crash but it’s unknown if the pickup hit the car before it hit the big rig, or after.
Authorities reported only minor injuries, according to news reports. Paramedics transported the driver of the pickup truck to the hospital.
The accident caused several lanes to be shut down while emergency personnel cleared the wreckage. Traffic backed up past the Interstate 15 transition.
Authorities cleared the wreckage by 6:30 a.m.
Rear-end collisions involving large trucks routinely result in serious injury or death. These collisions include both trucks rear-ending cars, and vice versa. Truck dynamics play a significant role in the latter. Regulations require underride guards intended to curtail fatalities when a car slams into the back of a truck; but, in many cases the guards do not have enough strength and giveaway during a collision.
In 2011, a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that in over 100 crashes, 80 percent involved a truck rear-ended by a car. In 2015, 17 percent of fatal car versus truck accidents involved the car rear-ending the truck and sliding underneath the rear of the trailer.