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Stumble2 dead, 3 injured in I-15 crash near California line
Published Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 | 4:33 p.m.
Updated Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 | 9:03 p.m.
I-15 crash
A man and woman died and three children were injured in a crash in the southbound lanes of Interstate 15 Friday afternoon about four miles from the California state line, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.
The accident occurred about 4 p.m. when the four-door Dodge pickup truck they were riding in struck a paving machine, Trooper Joseph Fackrell said.
Fackrell said it appeared the truck’s front right tire was flat. He said it was unclear if the woman, who was driving, had lost control of the vehicle after the flat tire occurred or if the vehicle struck the paving machine while trying to pull over.
A man in the front passenger seat died while being flown to University Medical Center. The driver was flown to UMC in “very serious condition” and later died at the hospital, Fackrell said.
Three children in the back seat of the truck also were taken to UMC.
Police said they believe the couple killed were a husband and wife.
A 9-year-old girl, who was wearing a seatbelt, was driven to Jean about eight miles away, then flown to the hospital. She was in surgery Friday night in critical condition, police said.
Two young children in the backseat, both of whom were in car seats, were driven to the hospital, Fackrell said. A 5-year-old boy was in critical condition and a girl, 1 or 2 years old, was being held for observation, Fackrell said.
The paving machine wasn't moving at the time of the crash, Fackrell said. No workers were at the scene.
The names of the victims weren't available on Friday.
The southbound lanes of I-15 had been closed but officials started to reopen the highway into the early evening. Friday night, the highway had been reopened, but traffic was still backed up as of 9 p.m., Fackrell said.
A KLAS-TV photo taken from a helicopter showed a black pickup truck surrounded by emergency crews.
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Sounds like a Friday out there..A paving machine?? Where was the flagman?
I don't know why they don't widen this freeway more. They should add two more lanes down the whole length of it and increase the speed limit to 90 miles per hour. Driver training and vehicle safety inspections should be improved upon as well.
Tragic.
Chunky says:
Chunky was coming home from LA in the Northbound lane just as they were loading a man into the helicopter at the scene of the accident.
Traffic slowed to a crawl then everyone Northbound was right back up to 85+ mph. Not even an eyewitness visual of a terrible crash is enough to slow people down it seems.
Chunky sends his sympathies to the families involved and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured.
Regretfully that's what Chunky thinks this Friday afternoon.
And people want to complain about cops ticketing speeders. 85+ the cars can handle...it's the people that are the problem.
Rough day near Primm
That stretch of road between the end of Barstow to Jean is brutal. Or in this case the the stretch from Jean to the beginning of Barstow. It's like being stuck in an 85 mph traffic jam. 85 mph bumper to bumper (especially on the weekends). They need to make that section of highway 4 lanes in each direction. Smacking into a paving machine may have caused the flat tire. I'm sorry for all involved in this horrible accident.
It looks like the paving machine was just to the right of the fog line (lane boundary) with no cones or signage anywhere from the picture. Looks like a stupid place to park it to me.
Such a sad story.
Sad Sad Sad
I was out there today. The paving machine is on the inside lane, which is closed to traffic with cones. They must have lost control as there are plenty of construction signs warning of road work. no one wa sslowing down as they were driving 80mph when the guys were working. No NHP out there today at all. Traffic was very heavy.
What is a paving machine doing on the freeway unattended.... Seems like someone might get sued over this....Prayers to the family..............
RIP
Ok, I think there should be a law that automatically and permanently takes away the driver's license of people who advocate a 90 mile per hour speed limit. No wonder this area has some of the most horrible auto insurance rates in the universe.
that looks like the 55mph truck lane. that machine should not have been sitting there in the first place...
they prob tried to shift lanes to get to the shoulder after their tire burst, only to hit the paving machine as soon as they got there.
tragic.
I just came through that section of the freeway at about noon today. The roads were clearly marked due to the construction etc. The graters were visible.
Perhaps they will discover the tire blew out and the car went out of control. Sad...
My thoughts and prayers are with this family tonight.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family of those killed and injured. Poor kids don't have a mom and a dad anymore. I hope they will be taken in by responsible people who will be great parents! What a tragic scene it was on the news. The truck was bent all out of shape. She really rear-ended the gravel truck. They say there is a lesson to be learned in all tragedy. I hope this is one that speaks loudly to drivers. DON'T DRIVE TOO FAST!!! Obey the speed limit, and get to where you are going in a safe manner. They were going camping, and they probably just wanted to beat the heat. It was hotter than hell out there yesterday!
My best wishes to the kids injured, that they will fully recover, and always remember their parents, and remember that their parents (hopefully!) loved them with all their hearts, and best wishes to (again, hopefully) live a long, long life, a lot longer than the parents lived. To both parents, may they rest in peace.
No wonder this stretch of highway is known nationally as the deadliest stretch in the US! Why in the world wasn't the paver well out of traffics way if the crew went home for the weekend? Now there are 3 children with no parents..the owner of the paver should be held liable in some sense and at least be the one to look at these kids to tell them their folks are gone!
In the blink of an eye...
Horrible.
I agree that this is a terrible accident. But why state this is to blame on the paver? Work area is defined with barrels in place and signs. Even in Las Vegas no one drives the posted 55 through work areas. The accident may have resulted from a flat, but for most our driving habits will need to change to eliminate or reduce fatalities. But it seems we live in a "I'm important and it's all about me" world and I don't think most will adjust no matter how many people die in the process.
Another glaring example of the, ahem mentally challenged people that live in this state
LETS all blame the accident on an Inanimate object
Unbelievable
RIP to the family
that whole stretch,especially on a thur-fri,or late sunday reminds of sammy hagars "cant drive 55" which has alot more to do with the tragic event than a paver on the shoulder!
peace out
no one's blaming the paver per se, bldblue. its just that it could have been a factor. right now, no one really knows why and how it happened so all readers can do is think about 'what ifs'...what if the paver wasnt there? what if they werent driving at a high speed (which we dont know if they were), what it they were able to safely come to a stop after the flat, what if they left a little earlier during the day etc. It is indeed a tragedy, imagining how this happy family of five set out to go camping on a friday, kids were all probably excited, only for it to end this way.
also, i have to say this, since i drive out of vegas quite a lot thru i15, cars with nevada plates are observably 'sober' for the most part. if you see a vehicle speeding up to catch up to your ass, you can bet its from california. cars heading south on the 15 on a friday are usually families going on weekend trips and are not as CRAZY to get to their destination as the ones driving north on the 15 from CA to get to Vegas (californians). the only, only reason why we dont really hear a lot about accidents is because the I15, after primm, gets so congested there's really no room to speed.
Chunky says:
When he drove by the accident site in the northbound lane he could see a line a giant caution barrels stretching back from the work site.
Regardless, it's a tragedy for this family.
That's what Chunky thinks.
I was driving southbound on 1-15 and came upon the crash right after it happened. The pick up truck was smashed under the construction truck . It was awful. My passenger and I saw construction guys wearing orange vests down on the ground under the construction truck looking up into what was left of the pick up cab. I had to keep my eyes on the road but my passenger said the construction guys had horrified looks on the faces. We were very shook up as we knew that someone had probably just died there. Then we get home and look up on the internet and see the tragic news about this family ...we prayed for the people that died, their family and the construction workers who helped out immediately
after the accident.
I can't help but think what are the odds of striking a parked vehicle on that stretch of highway?. If the swerving had occurred a few seconds before or after the parked
vehicle they all probably would have been OK.
My heart breaks for those children...
flat tire could have caused vehicle to pull to the right..especially at high rate of speed.
There are hundreds of possibilities....one thing about LasVegas that I simply don't understand with all the congestion is why they don't have a hands free law regarding cell phones. I see it all the time. People holding cell phones to their ear, manual transmission shifting, cup of coffee, etc....Especially in a city with huge amounts of congestion and traffic. Mind numbingly stupid.
**Trooper Joseph Fackrell said it appeared the truck's front right tire was flat**
I just don't know what to believe anymore from our sworn law enforcement officers.
Comment removed by moderator. Post in all caps.
With every tragedy comes the need to explain it. Oh, sure ... It was the construction's crew's fault! It was the speed of the driver! Please. Terrible tragedy happens, and not always is it explainable.
I don't advocate a 90MPH speed limit. I advocate "Speed Unlimited" on multi-lane interstate highways backed up by real driver training, real driver testing, and real auto maintainance schedules.
Time to build the rail line.
Chunky says:
He agrees with TomD1228 about the use of handsfree devices for cell phones.
Chunky absolutely hates the government enacting laws that tell us citizens what to do or not to do but the distracted driver situation has grown to epidemic proportions.
Chunky isn't implying that distracted driving had anything to do with this sad situation but he wishes all his friends and family would go handsfree and everyone else for that matter.
That's what Chunky thinks!
Slow down and obey the speed limit signs in road construction areas. Also, no texting or gabbing on the cell phone while driving. Only idiots do that.
Hope the Sun publishes the traffic accident report for this tragic incident so that others can learn.
What a sad story, people need to slow down and have more respect for life ; I feel so sorry for the kids, I hope they have someone to guide them through life. We need to cut down the speed and Metro needs to give out more tickets and some jail time wouldn't hurt...
What a great loss of a good man and his wife. Pray for their children. Remember to check your tires for dryrot and possible tread failure from the heat. RIP
These people that you all talk about were someones children, sisters, brothers,cousins, all of that. You can speculate all you want on what actually happened, NOT one of us were there, The story is two wonderful people died, and those great kids will go on the rest of their lives without there mom and dad.. So before you judge stop and think "Accident" thats why it is called that.. I will truly miss my family members, and may god be with the children.
My wife and I were northbound and passed the site as the helicopter was landing.
It appeared to me that the paving machine was attached to a truck with a boom, almost like a giant tow truck. The Dodge pickup was just en beaded into the paving machine. It was obvious that a tragedy had occurred.
I'm not a very religious person, but all the rest of the way to Vegas , I prayed for the people in that car. I also SLOWED down!!
We returned yesterday 8/15 and as we passed the site, there is a construction machine 100 ft. or more out into the brush....... no "tow truck" unit attached to it. I don't know if it's what they hit, but why did they not put the one that they did hit over there when they quit for the day?
RIP God help the children
Those were my cousins' that were killed on Friday, August 13. They left behind 3 small children (9,5,18 mos) Yes it was a horrific tragedy. My family is still in quite a state of shock that life can be taken in such a quick instance. We still are unclear of all the details as to what happend. What I do know is that Kenny and Sheila Miller were some of the most amazing people I have ever met. They were Christians that did not judge anyone. They have instilled values that noone can ever take from thier children. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.If you would like to make a donation there has been a Memorial fund set up in thier name under Miller Family College Fund at US BANK last 4 digits of acct # are 5907.