Who:
Tracy Morgan, 45, a noted celebrity and former star of “30 Rock”, was critically injured at around 1 AM close to New Brunswick, New Jersey on the Turnpike on Saturday, 6/7/14. He was a passenger in a 2014-era 2500 High Roof 170″ WB Mercedes Sprinter van, in which James McNair, 63, Morgan’s writer, was killed and three others–Jeff Millea (critically), Ardie Fuqua, and Harris Stanton, were also injured. The driver was unhurt. The collision involved six vehicles and took place at mile marker 71.5 in the northbound turnpike. They were impacted by a Peterbilt semi trailer driven by Kevin Roper, 35, from Georgia. A Buick, Ford-150, and another semi trailer were also involved in the collision.

How:
Per police reports, the Sprinter was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler whose driver had been dozing and had not noticed that traffic had begun to slow in front of him until it was too late. He noticed the Sprinter just before the impact. After being impacted from behind, the Sprinter rotated clockwise and rolled over onto the driver side. While swerving, it contacted the Buick, which then contacted the F-150 and second semi. The truck driver was charged with assault by auto and death by auto.

Why:
This is another case where fatigue behind the wheel led to needless deaths and injury. Such crashes are more likely at night, as was this one, since individuals are more likely to fall asleep while driving during nighttime hours, since humans are diurnal, or naturally active during the daytime.

Investigating the physics of the crash, the survival of Tracy and most of the individuals in the Sprinter was likely due to the low relative difference in speed between the Sprinter and the Peterbuilt semi truck. The 2014 2500 Sprinter weighs 6128 lbs. It was impacted by a Peterbilt semi that can weigh 35,000 lbs or more, or 5711% of the Sprinter’s weight. As a result, if the Sprinter were traveling at 35 mph due to the traffic while the semi were traveling at 65 mph at the moment of impact, that would have created a 30 mph speed differential.

Given the likely speeds of the collision, then (~30 mph), the collision likely imparted at least 1.43MJ of energy into the Sprinter. This is a tremendous amount of energy, and explains the significant structural damage and collapse of the rear portion of the Sprinter. However, the structural strength of the Sprinter design kept the entire vehicle from caving in, preserving the majority of the passenger compartment. It is likely that the sole fatality that resulted occurred because James had been sitting in the rear-most portion of the vehicle, and may have suffered the most trauma as a result.

It is currently unknown how many of the individuals on the Sprinter were wearing seat belts. However, wearing such belts would certainly have aided them in the collision, simply by giving them time to “ride down” the collision instead of being thrown within the vehicle as it was thrown forward and into other vehicles due to the impact of the Peterbilt.

This was ultimately a wholly preventable tragedy. Statistics show that truck driver fatigue is a significant risk faced by the majority of truck drivers on the road, who can drive for as long as 11 hours in a row without being required to take a break. Furthermore, many drivers work longer than these requirements in order to bring in their deliveries on time. Changes need to be made in these regulations to protect truck drivers and ultimately to protect all travelers on the road by extension. This becomes particularly evident when one considers that semi truck sleep regulations have actually become *weaker* since 2004, when drivers were only allowed to drive up to 10 hours before taking a break.

While the driver certainly bears responsibility for causing the collision, we need greater changes at the legislative level to reduce the risks of such tragedies reoccurring.

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