Truck crash kills woman

A 24-year-old woman is killed after her car hit a tractor-trailer making an illegal turn.

By: Joseph Harvie
   A 24-year-old Hazlet woman was killed early Monday morning after her car hit a tractor-trailer that was trying to make an illegal turn from northbound Route 1 to westbound New Road, police said.
   According to police, Victoria Eastmond was pronounced dead at 6:15 a.m. after her 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier crashed into the 2004 Freightliner tractor-trailer, driven by Willie Houston, 58, of Amarillo, Texas. The truck was also hit by a second car, but that driver wasn’t seriously injured.
   Police said the accident, reported at 5:45 a.m., forced three lanes of the four-lane highway to close for almost five hours as workers from the state Department of Transportation cleaned debris from the crash.
   Police said this was the third fatality on South Brunswick roadways in 2005.
   Mr. Houston was headed north on Route 1 and made an illegal left turn through the intersection of New Road instead of using the jughandle, police said.
   Ms. Eastmond was headed south on Route 1. Police said her vehicle’s driver-side door hit the front of the tractor-trailer, causing the roof of the Cavalier to partially collapse. Police said Ms. Eastmond’s vehicle stopped about 50 feet south of the collision.
   Police said Ms. Eastmond was headed to work at Schlumberger, an international oilfield and information services company, in West Windsor.
   Shortly after the first collision, a 1998 Volkswagen being driven south on Route 1 by Lee Walker, 27, of North Brunswick, also hit the tractor-trailer, police said. His car got stuck between the back wheels of the tractor and the front of the trailer.
   The Kendall Park First Aid Squad transported Mr. Walker to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where he was treated and released, police said.
   Police said Mr. Houston, the truck driver, was uninjured.
   Police said the tractor-trailer is owned by Covenant Transport and was empty at the time of the collision. It was headed from Bensalem, Pa., to Lebanon, Pa.
   The accident remains under investigation by Officer Michael Rogers of the South Brunswick Police Traffic Safety Bureau.
   Police said Wednesday afternoon that no charges were filed against Mr. Houston but they expect to issue traffic summons soon.