A trucker from Illinois that caused a deadly truck accident in eastern Pennsylvania in 2008 will spend at least five months in jail for the accident. The truck driver pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, reckless driving and a misdemeanor in January. The trucker caused a highway crash when the cargo container he was hauling struck an overpass on Route 22. The cargo container fell off the truck and crashed into an SUV driven by a 42-year-old mother. The woman was killed at the scene of the crash.

The Senior Deputy District Attorney who is prosecuting the case said the truck driver from Illinois failed to perform his basic duties as a truck driver. The district attorney said the basic duty of a commercial truck is to make sure the load is secure and that the truck is safe. The truck driver's load was not within the size requirements of Pennsylvania law. The legal limit is 13 feet, 6 inches by 11 inches. The trucker was on a cross-country route and failed to measure the size of the load. The overpass the trucker ran into has a clearance height of 13 feet, 10 inches. According to police the total height of the trailer was 14 feet, 5 inches. The trucker also failed to secure all four corners of the load.

The trucker's failure to secure the load and ensure that it made height requirements forever changed the life of one woman and her family. Before the fatal accident, the 42-year-old was on her way to work on November 18, 2008. Just before 6 a.m. a container from the truck was knocked off the trailer from the force of the overpass, and the container landed in the path of the woman's vehicle. The woman hit the container and the force of the impact spun the woman's vehicle into a center barrier. The woman died at the accident scene. The truck driver is barred from driving any vehicle for one year after he serves his jail time.

Source: The Morning Call, "Jail for trucker in fatal overpass crash," Kevin Amerman, 2/25/11