Driving a heavy vehicle down a highway at speeds over 50 miles per hour should command the utmost attention. A driver in Oklahoma City sparked a 9-car pileup last week after deciding that something else was more important at speed. Thankfully, no one was killed and only two people were injured. Driving isn’t a low-stakes, empty-minded task like pushing a vacuum around a house.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol released dash cam footage from a tractor-trailer involved in the crash. The video shows a pickup truck heading down a highway at 7:00 a.m. in the rightmost lane towards an off-ramp. However, the driver didn’t notice that the traffic ahead of him was stopped. They realized at the last possible moment and swerved to the left.
The pickup turned straight into the tractor-trailer, ripping the right front wheel off the semi. The collision sent the trailer-tractor careening into the stopped cars. OHP claimed the driver was distracted in a Facebook post, stating, “We need drivers to pay attention and look down the road when driving. The pickup driver was not paying attention and didn’t brake in time for the stopped traffic.”
Distracted driving has become worryingly common across the country. The incidents involving the dangerous practice rose by 20 percent between 2020 and 2022. Automakers seem more concerned with making cars more able to drive themselves, creating more opportunities to look away at the wheel. Avoiding a costly crash is literally as easy as just keeping your eyes on the road.