Fatal San Jose Box Truck Crash Slows Highway 101 Commute
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A box truck driver fell asleep while driving on northbound U.S. Highway 101 in San Jose early Wednesday morning, causing the truck to go off the road and crash, killing a passenger inside it, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.
The crash was reported shortly after 3:45 a.m. on northbound Highway 101 in the area of McKee Road.
The driver, who was traveling north from the Los Angeles area, temporarily dozed off and allowed the truck to drift off the right shoulder of the highway to a sloped embankment, causing it to overturn, CHP Officer Ross Lee said.
A male passenger who was sleeping in the backseat and was apparently not properly restrained by a safety belt died from head injuries in the crash, Lee said. His name has not yet been released.
The driver suffered major injuries and was taken to a hospital.
The crash also caused fuel to spill onto the roadway, but because it was raining at the time, the fuel washed away, according to Lee.
The crash initially caused the closure of all northbound lanes of the highway. The far left lane reopened by shortly after 6 a.m. and all but the far right lane reopened by 9 a.m.