Tractor-Trailer Tire Strikes Vehicle, Kills Driver Along I-79
ALEPPO TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – One person was killed after a tire struck their vehicle Monday morning on Interstate 79.
According to police, the accident happened around 6 a.m. near the Mt. Nebo Road exit.
Police said the tire came from a tractor-trailer traveling north and bounced across the median into oncoming traffic in the southbound lanes. It is unknown if the truck lost a tire or if it was part of the truck's load and fell off.
"When you're driving a truck of that size, those tires can come off and you might not even know it," Trooper Robin Mungo said.
The tire struck an SUV, causing it to crash into the guide wire in the median. The male driver of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene.
"When the vehicle was struck by those tires, he lost control and if you've been in the area down there, it's not a guide rail, it's guide wires. So, luckily those wires were there. That's what kept him from going into the northbound lane," Trooper Mungo said.
A female passenger in the SUV was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, but her condition is unknown.
After striking the SUV, the tire sideswiped another vehicle. The driver of that vehicle was taken to a local hospital, where they were treated and released.
Anyone who may have been traveling north in the area around 6 a.m. is being asked to call State Police.
Southbound traffic has been reduced to one lane through the area.
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