A 29-year-old Wilmington man died early Friday when he crashed into a tractor-trailer on I-495 near New Castle, according to Delaware State Police.
Police said a 48-year-old man from Hollis, New York was traveling south on I-495 in a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia at about 2 a.m. when he decided to stop in the triangular area between I-495 and the exit ramp to Route 141.
Police said the 29-year-old man, driving a 2021 Honda HRV, attempted to leave I-495 and take the exit ramp to Route 141. The driver crossed into the space between the highway lanes and the exit ramp and hit the rear right corner of the trailer, according to police.
When asked why the tractor-trailer driver stopped, Senior Cpl. Jason Hatchell said state police “do not have all the facts of the case.” It’s also unclear how long after the tractor-trailer stopped the crash occurred.
“The gore area [the space between the highway lanes and the exit ramp] is not considered a safe place to stop a motor vehicle,” he wrote in an email. “The facts, in this case, are still being investigated, and the driver of the tractor-trailer has not been charged.”
The Wilmington man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said he was properly restrained.
The 48-year-old New York man was not injured, according to police.
The south lanes of I-495 were closed for about four hours as the crash was investigated and cleared.
The death marked Delaware’s 164th road fatality of 2022, placing the state one shy of its record of 165 traffic fatalities set in 1988. In 2021, 139 people died on Delaware roads.
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The near-record numbers are part of a national trend.
According to preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more people are dying across the country in motor vehicle accidents. NHTSA is projecting that 42,915 people died in motor vehicle crashes last year, a 10.5% increase from the 38,824 fatalities in 2020. The national projection for 2021 is the highest number of fatalities since 2005.
Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.
