Truck driver killed at icy U.S. 30 rest stop
Linda Martz
MANSFIELD – A 51-year-old Indiana truck driver whose truck had just been hit by one pickup on icy pavement at the U.S. 30 rest stop east of Mansfield was killed after a second pickup slid into him, around 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
It was one of several accidents handled by the Mansfield post of the Ohio Highway Patrol after 6:51 a.m., when rain turned to freezing rain, making area roads extremely slippery.
Craig Potter of Columbia City, Ind., who was driving for Wel Companies Inc. of Wisconsin, was pronounced dead while enroute to a hospital in a Mifflin Fire Department EMS ambulance, Trooper Matt Stoffer said.
The accident occurred as part of a chain reaction that began when a 2005 Chevy Silvarado driven by Robert McCready II, 56, of Bellville, lost control on icy pavement at the eastbound U.S. 30 rest stop, sliding into the left side of the semi-truck Potter was driving. The Chevy came to rest facing southwest toward the trailer side of the semi truck, Stoffer said.
McCready, who was coming to work at the rest stop, went into the rest area building to report the accident, after checking that Potter was OK. The truck driver was still in his vehicle when McCready went inside.
About three minutes later, a 2012 Ford 5250 pickup driven by Jerry Hissong, 53, of Caledonia, approached the rest stop, hitting Potter, who had exited his semi and was standing near the door. The pickup also slammed into the trailer and the first pickup truck, Stoffer said.
Stoffer said the crash was not the first reported that morning, but ice on the highways, which ODOT had been treating, "was spotty," while the rest stop area was a glaze of ice on both road pavement and sidewalks.
"The entire rest area was covered with ice," he said. "ODOT probably didn't hit the rest area yet."
A highway patrol reconstructionist's preliminary report from checking the electrical system on the Ford pickup was that it was going around 26 miles per hour about 5 seconds prior to the crash, and that the vehicle apparently headed in a straight line, with the driver unable to veer from that path, Stoffer said. The vehicle "pretty much just came straight in. He was probably driving too fast and couldn't stop," he said.
No charges had been filed as of early Saturday afternoon, and the accident was still under investigation.
None of the other accidents handled by the Mansfield post Saturday morning involved serious injuries, according to the state trooper.
Stoffer said injury accidents or fatalities are more likely during freezing rain conditions than in heavy snows. While troopers handle a lot of calls of cars off the road during snowstorms, there generally are no injuries, he added.
The trooper said he always cautions drivers when giving talks to take it easy when freezing rain conditions are possible. "I just always tell drivers you have just got to watch the temperatures. Any time there is moisture on the road and it's at or below freezing, you've got to assume the roads have some ice on them," he said.
The trooper said he also reminds drivers to "just coast" when they're crossing possibly icy bridges. "Don't hit your brakes or accelerate," which can cause vehicles to spin, he said.
lmartz@gannett.com
Twitter: @MNJmartz
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