Olympia, Washington – One Man Killed in Head-On Collision Involving a Truck and a Car

Olympia, Washington (June 29, 2019) – One man was killed after colliding head-on with a truck on Yelm Highway Southeast on early Saturday morning. The victim, identified as Mario Gastelum of Olympia, was said to have died on the scene. The truck driver, a 47 year-old woman, was not injured but arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide as it was believed that she was driving under the influence at the time of the accident.

The collision happened around 2:45 a.m. The victim was heading east on the highway when his car struck a guardrail. It was hen believed that the victim over-corrected and drove into the westbound lane, colliding with the pickup truck on the 8700 block of Yelm Highway Southeast. No road closures have been announced.

About Vehicle Accidents

We offer our sympathies and compassion to the friends and loved ones of the victim. Unfortunately, this is not the only case of vehicle accident which involves a fatality. In 2017, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)  have reported a total of 120, 993 car accidents. Of those accidents, 525 were fatal ad 34, 311 were possible or suspected of injuries. On the other hand, the state of Washington’s  2015 Annual Collision Data Summary reported that 6,091 commercial vehicle or heavy trucks were involved in collisions in 2015. These crashes included 38 fatal collisions, 85 serious injury collisions, 1,352 minor injury collisions, 4,565 property damage collisions, and 51 unknown injury collisions.

Give the size and build difference between cars and trucks, collisions between the two often result in dangerous situations. Specifically, trucks can weigh 20-30 times more than passenger cars, and their height and greater ground clearance can cause smaller vehicles to be more easily toppled in car-truck accidents. Consequently, studies have proven that most deaths in large truck accidents are passenger vehicle occupants, who are more vulnerable in case of collision. However, in a 2013 study, most car-truck accidents are often caused by car drivers, with relation to driver errors. Regardless of which vehicle you are driving, one must always exercise caution on the road. With both cars and trucks, drivers must be responsible for making sure their vehicle is in a good condition and not prone to vehicle failure, and to always consider the road and weather conditions.

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