An out-of-state truck driver received a speeding ticket and additional citations following a crash involving his rig on I-78 at the Rt. 33 interchange in Lower Saucon Township last month, according to court records and information provided by Pennsylvania State Police at Belfast.
I-78 passes through Lower Saucon Township in Northampton County, where it is patrolled by Pennsylvania State Police officers from Troop M’s Belfast barracks. (FILE PHOTO)
In a news release, police said the accident happened at 9:44 a.m. Oct. 4 as 27-year-old Rudy L. Vazquez Matos of Winston-Salem, N.C., traveled southbound on Rt. 33 and onto the ramp for I-78 west.
It was there that police said Vazquez Matos “lost control” of his 1998 Freightliner TK and went off the right shoulder of the roadway, striking a ditch with the truck’s front bumper.
Police said the truck then spun in a clockwise direction and overturned on its driver’s side, where it came to a stop facing east.
The truck’s trailer became disconnected from the cab during the crash and came to a stop facing west, the news release said.
Vazquez Matos wasn’t injured in the wreck, but the truck he was operating sustained disabling damage and had to be towed from the scene, according to the accident report.
According to Northampton County District Court records, in addition to speeding Vazquez Matos was also issued summonses by state police for Driving on Roadways Laned for Traffic and Accidents Involving Overturned Vehicles.
As of Nov. 1, he had not yet responded to the citations in District Court 03-2-04 in Lower Saucon Township, per court records.
Note: All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This story was compiled using information from a Pennsylvania State Police news release and from Northampton County district court records.
