A California RVer was killed after a semi rolled over in front of the Class C motorhome he was riding in. The motorhome driver was caught by surprise and crashed into the rig, killing Tracey J. Haeggstrom, 67, from Orange, California.
Mr. Haeggstrom was far from home when the incident took his life. Haeggstrom was riding in a Leisure Travel Van motorhome when it came upon the Freightliner on Utah’s Interstate 70 near milepost 200 last Sunday afternoon.
Semi rolled over—authorities still don’t know why
Utah Highway Patrol officials say they still haven’t figured out why the semi driver ran off the road. When it did, the driver overcorrected, pulling hard left back to the roadway. The truck reacted by rolling over, blocking both eastbound lanes of the highway.
The motorhome was in the right lane, also heading east. The driver didn’t stop in time, and Tracey Haeggstrom, who was riding in the front passenger seat, died. The motorhome driver, who hasn’t been named, was also injured and treated for “moderate” injuries. Two other motorhome passengers were also hurt. Both were hospitalized, one in critical condition, the other with serious injuries.
Semi driver booked
As to the semi truck driver. The unnamed operator was taken to an area hospital with minor injuries. He was later booked into jail. The Highway Patrol is investigating the case as one involving “potential impairment.”
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Looks like distracted driving on the part of the trucker who over reacted to a shoulder encounter. Also looks like following too close or being startled or getting ready to pass the truck, and not reacting to an unfolding situation right in front of the Rv driver. Appears to be ample road-shoulder space on the left side to avoid the semi….. on-coming traffic? Maybe. Stay alert!
Shouldn’t be oncoming traffic on your side of the Interstate Hwy. The article also states the RV came upon the semi. So does that mean the RV driver just drove into it? Don’t see a lot of skid marks for all the activity that just happened there.
And…surprised the driver???
There’s a link in this article to the police statement. The police statement does not say the RV “came upon the semi”. Looks like that wording is from the author of the article for RVTravel. It makes it sound like they just happened upon a semi when in fact they were probably driving right behind it,
The police report states: “Both travel directions were closed for 5 hours during the investigation and cleanup.”.
… noting this happened at 4:50 am (0450) the sunrise may have also been another factor as they were both eastbound. No mention of the xthr or visibility. Appears to be smokey in the distance.
Looks, and sounds, to me like the “potentially ” impaired semi driver over corrected from the right lane and rolled over right in front of the rv as it had started to pass it, causing the collision.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! 🙂 No idea at what speeds these events happened, but it warns me to keep a considerable following distance. Condolences to the Haeggstrom family and friends. 😯🙏😥 Thanks again, have a great day, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
So everyone was named except the semi driver…I wonder why???
Everyone was NOT named. The only person named is the deceased passenger. And if you click the link in the article to go to the police statement, only the deceased is named at the very bottom of the report.
No mention of seat belt use.