A four-vehicle chain-reaction crash on the westbound New York State Thruway in Farmington sent eight people to the hospital late Tuesday night, with one victim listed in critical condition, after state troopers say a Lakewood, New Jersey driver was speeding when his car slammed into a van.
According to the official New York State Police incident report, the crash was logged at 10:04 p.m. on September 29 on Interstate 90 in the Town of Farmington, in Ontario County. As reported by 13 WHAM News, 30-year-old Michael Weiss was driving westbound on I-90 when his car struck a van, setting off a pileup that also involved a sedan and a pickup truck. The state police report identifies all four drivers involved: Weiss, 31-year-old Clyde J. Sammons of Scipio Center, New York; 46-year-old Michael Haley of Manchester, New Hampshire; and 20-year-old Carson Matthew Seamon of Richfield Springs, New York, according to the report obtained via New York State Police.
Eight Hurt, One Critical, After Pileup
Three people from the van were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, and Weiss and his four passengers were also transported there, the station's report notes. No injuries were reported among occupants of the sedan or pickup truck. In total, eight people were hospitalized, including one in critical condition, per the same account.
Strong Memorial Hospital is an 886-bed regional facility that operates the only designated adult and pediatric Level I trauma center in the 14-county Finger Lakes region, according to UR Medicine. That designation explains why emergency crews transported all of the injured to Rochester rather than a closer facility. Ground transports from Exit 44 in Farmington to the hospital require traveling roughly 25 miles northwest along Interstate 90 and Interstate 490, per background compiled on Wikipedia.
Speed Cited as Contributing Factor
Speed was a factor in the crash, per New York State Police, and Weiss was issued several tickets for Vehicle and Traffic Law violations. Under Section 1180 of the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, speeding violations carry base fines of up to $600 and assign between 3 and 11 points to a driver's license depending on how far over the limit the vehicle was traveling, according to the New York State Senate. The investigation remained ongoing as of Tuesday night, per New York State Police.
The stretch of Thruway near Exit 44 carries a posted speed limit of 65 mph. Westbound traffic slowed near the exit following the crash, with the New York State Thruway Authority providing the crash scene imagery.
Another Farmington Thruway Crash
A separate crash involving three trucks at Thruway mile marker 345 in Farmington in May 2026 shut down eastbound lanes for hours and sent an injured truck driver to Strong Memorial Hospital, according to Finger Lakes Daily News.
