A New Jersey man will be charged after his car slammed into a PennDOT maintenance convoy on I-295 and injured a state worker, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
The crash occurred around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, in the eastbound lanes of I-295, just past the I-95 interchange in Bristol Township.
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Troopers said a 50-year-old Lawrenceville, New Jersey, man was driving a 2002 Toyota Camry in a “careless/unsafe manner” while approaching a work zone.
At the time, four PennDOT trucks and their crews were performing repairs in the left lane of the highway, state police said.
The Toyota first struck a vehicle equipped with an impact attenuator, which is a safety device designed to absorb the kinetic energy of a collision to protect road crews.
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After impacting the safety device, the Camry continued forward, striking additional PennDOT trucks, and causing a chain reaction among the state vehicles, troopers said.
A 57-year-old PennDOT employee from Morrisville sustained a non-life-threatening injury in the pileup.
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The Penndel-Middletown Emergency Squad transported the worker to St. Mary Medical Center for treatment, state police said.
The driver of the Toyota was not injured.
State police said they determined the Camry driver was traveling at a high rate of speed and making unsafe lane changes prior to the crash.
State police confirmed the man will be cited for causing the wreck.
PennDOT officials warned recently that drivers need to be careful in work zones.
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Since 1970, 93 PennDOT workers have died in the line of duty.
Last year, PennDOT reported 1,392 wrecks in work zones, leading to 12 deaths.
