Tractor-trailers are on Pennsylvania roads year round. Our dependence on them means that most drivers encounter multiple trucks each day. Sadly, one woman who encountered a tractor-trailer on Interstate 79 did not survive.

The incident occurred earlier this week late in the afternoon. Authorities indicate that the 20-year-old was a passenger in a car that was struck by the truck. Prior to the impact the car hit a guardrail after the driver lost control of the vehicle.

Both of the occupants of the car were injured in the crash. The driver was taken to a hospital while the young passenger was declared dead at the scene. Her death has been attributed to blunt force trauma.

It is unclear what caused the driver of the car in which the woman was a passenger, to lose control of the vehicle. As is seemingly always a possibility this time of year, the roads could have been slippery and the car may have hit an icy patch. Another possibility is that the driver experienced some sort of medical emergency. In still other cases, crashes like this one are due to behaviors constituting distracted driving.

Investigations are commonly launched after accidents such as this one. This is particularly true when one of the vehicles involved is a truck. Although at first glance it does not appear that the driver of the truck is to blame for the fatal crash, because trucks are so highly regulated, it is almost certain that the driver and the company for which he or she is driving will be investigated thoroughly.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "20-year-old Maryland woman died in tractor trailer crash on I-79," Lexi Belculfine, Feb. 13, 2013