25 car pile up on interstate route 78
06/10/05
About 25 cars collided in a chain-reaction crash on westbound Route 78 in Clinton Township yesterday afternoon, but there were no fatalities, State Police said.
Slippery conditions contributed to the multi-vehicle accident in Hunterdon County, according to drivers.
The incident began about 3:45 p.m., during or just after a heavy shower struck the area around Interchange 18, according to drivers involved. Vehicles were strewn in the roadway between the overpasses for Route 31 North and South, blocking westbound traffic.
Numerous fire and rescue squads joined State Police in responding to the scene, and wreckers were still hauling away damaged vehicles at 5:30 p.m. The stoppage had a domino effect on traffic around the area, with lengthy backups on side roads in Clinton and Annandale.
Hart Traffic Alert, which monitors roads in Hunterdon County, reported a tractor-trailer had jackknifed in the roadway.
"I was in the middle of the pack, and they started sliding in front of me, but then it sort of settled a bit," said Scott Race, an Easton, Pa., resident who works in Parsippany. "I was able to get over to the side, but then a truck came around and slammed into me."
Several drivers said the highway was slippery, either from rain or oil. Easton resident Kekibuh Taylor said she passed through a heavy shower, "and it was so humid there was steam rising from the road."
She saw vehicles in front of her collide, "but I was able to stop just in time. Then a truck came along and hit another truck, bounced off and pushed my car up against the guard rail," she said.
Taylor was treated at the scene for a wrist laceration caused by her airbag, but drivers said the only serious injury appeared to be a man taken to Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington with a back problem.
"That's the most important thing, nobody was badly hurt, because there were lots of children" who were passengers in the vehicles, said another driver who declined to give her name. Relatives trickled in to the scene to pick up some of those involved in the crash.
After two tractor-trailers were cleared about 5:30 p.m., State Police began allowing a few westbound cars through on the shoulder, but the process was interrupted as other damaged vehicles were taken or driven away.
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