A driver was hospitalized Tuesday morning after losing control of a Lincoln Continental and slamming into the back of a parked tractor-trailer on Interstate 287 in Mahwah, overturning the car and backing up northbound traffic for miles. The crash happened at 9:18 a.m. at milepost 65.3 on I-287 North in Mahwah Township, according to New Jersey State Police.
The Lincoln Continental had been heading north on I-287 when the driver lost control and ran off the road to the right, according to DailyVoice.com. The vehicle struck the rear of a Volvo tractor-trailer that was parked on the right shoulder, then overturned from the impact. New Jersey State Police Trooper II Christopher Postorino said the crash location and time were established per a preliminary investigation.
The driver was taken to an area hospital and suffered only minor injuries, authorities reported. No other injuries were reported at the scene, according to the same account. The collision nonetheless snarled the northbound lanes for miles as traffic backed up behind the wreck.
A Familiar Hazard on a Busy Freight Corridor
I-287 through Mahwah links New Jersey expressways directly to the New York State Thruway at the state line, according to NYCRoads. The crash also involved a tractor-trailer on the highway shoulder, but the cited sources do not establish daily truck volumes or a regional shortage of truck parking, or identify that shortage as a reason drivers use highway shoulders.
Federal motor carrier safety regulations require commercial drivers who stop on a shoulder for any non-traffic reason to immediately activate hazard flashers and deploy reflective warning devices within 10 minutes, under 49 CFR 392.22. New Jersey guidance also lists several prohibited parking locations.
Not the First Time on This Stretch
Tuesday's crash echoes a prior incident on the same stretch of I-287 in Mahwah, when police rescued a driver after a vehicle crashed into a tractor-trailer on the shoulder, as previously reported by FOX 5 NY. The danger extends beyond passenger vehicles: in July 2025, a 24-year-old tow truck operator was killed on the shoulder of I-287 in neighboring Morris County while assisting a stranded motorist, according to the Westfield Police Department.
New Jersey's Move Over Law, N.J.S.A. 39:4-92.2, requires drivers to change lanes or slow down when approaching stationary emergency and service vehicles, and has been expanded to cover disabled passenger vehicles displaying hazard lights on road shoulders, per the Westfield Police Department. Failing to move over or slow down for roadside hazards carries fines between $100 and $500 in New Jersey.
Part of a Grim Statewide Pattern
The crash arrives amid broader countywide and statewide traffic safety concerns, though the cited sources do not establish specific 2024 or 2025 totals, historical comparisons, or percentage changes.
The cited source material does not establish a direct correlation between truck-parking shortages and shoulder or ramp collisions involving stopped commercial vehicles, or a percentage of truck-corridor crashes occurring near ramps and shoulders. Hoodline has previously reported on similar collisions involving passenger vehicles and parked or stalled tractor-trailers, including a fatal I-95 stalled-truck crash earlier this month.
No further details about the condition of the driver or the circumstances behind why the tractor-trailer was parked on the shoulder have been released. The investigation into Tuesday's crash remains ongoing.
