A 26-year-old driver died late Wednesday night after a Honda Civic entered the westbound lanes of Interstate 40 going the wrong way and collided with two tractor-trailers near Magnolia. The crash shut down westbound lanes for several hours.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol’s account, relayed by WCTI, said the Civic was traveling east in the westbound lanes shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday. It collided with two trucks headed west, and the Civic’s driver died.
Troopers told the station that the Civic hit the first truck head-on in the left lane. The truck’s driver tried to steer onto the shoulder to avoid the oncoming car, according to the account.
Second Truck Forced Off the Road
The second truck’s driver also swerved to avoid the collision, and the truck ran off the roadway before the Civic struck its side, the highway patrol account said.
The Civic came to rest in the middle of I-40 after the impacts, according to the report. The crash scene led to an overnight closure.
Highway Reopens After Hours-Long Shutdown
Westbound I-40 was closed between Magnolia and Rose Hill for several hours while crews worked at the scene, WCTI reported.
Wrong-Way Driving Countermeasures
The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s 2017 Wrong Way Driving Toolbox describes engineering strategies intended to reduce wrong-way driving on freeways. The available reference does not specify which, if any, of those measures are in place at or near the I-40 segment by Magnolia.
The reported account did not identify the truck drivers, describe the condition of anyone else involved or explain how the Civic entered the wrong-way lanes. No further details on those points were provided.
