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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 14, 2005 Man killed in I-5 wreck By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings A 49-year-old La Center, Wash., man died Friday afternoon when the yellow West Coast Paper delivery van he was driving slammed into a single-trailer semi-truck near milepost 18 on Interstate 5 northbound. Rescue crew members from Fire District Five use the Jaws of life to remove the body of the driver killed Friday near the north Ashland interchange. The force of the impact deployed the airbag in the van, knocked the wheels off of the front axle and pushed the engine block into the cab. Photo by Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings Steven Francis Brant was traveling "at a high rate of speed" in the left lane just before a construction zone narrowed traffic to a single lane. The tractor-trailer was moving at about 3 to 4 mph when the van rear-ended it, according to Oregon State Trooper Greg Castanza. "He didn't even hit his brakes," said Castanza. "He just hit it." The force of the impact deployed the airbag in the van, knocked the wheels off of the front axle and crushed the engine block into the cab. Brant apparently did not notice the slowed truck in front of him, said Oregon State Trooper Bill Matson. There were no skid marks on the pavement. Crews from Jackson County Fire District 5 responded to the accident about 2 p.m. They used the Jaws of Life and other extraction equipment to reach Brant, however, he died instantly in the crash, law enforcement officials at the scene stated. The semi-truck driver, a 53-year-old Centralia, Wash., man who did not want to be identified, was not injured in the accident. The collision bowed the rear doors of the trailer, which was owned by Norwest Express Inc. of Tacoma, into a concave shape. Neither the van nor the semi-truck was carrying passengers and no other vehicles were involved in wreck, which slowed traffic near the Ashland Port of Entry for more than an hour and nearly caused at least one other accident as other drivers turned to look at the crash scene. "It's not uncommon to see this stuff," said Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman John Vial, warning drivers to slow down and pay attention to other vehicles. "We have seen several crashes, usually at the end of the queue. Construction zones are always a challenging place to deal with traffic." According to ODOT, more than 40 percent of construction-zone crashes happen in the "transition zone" where vehicles slow immediately before entering the work area. Construction crews working on the I-5 repaving project had placed signs and a lit readerboard along the stretch of freeway where the accident occurred warning drivers to slow down and merge to the left lane. The first sign was stationed about two miles south of the crash. "Basically, it was a rear-ender," Matson said, gesturing toward the driver's body lying on the asphalt next to the crumpled van. "The driver at fault is here." No citations were issued to the semi-truck driver and there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, according to Matson, although Norwest Express Inc. requires the driver to take a urinalysis test to confirm he had not ingested drugs or alcohol prior to the wreck. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Music Downloads Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks Heloc Mortgage Calculator FREE Entertainment Guide Calenders 2006 Calendar Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation Home Equity Loans teleconferencing W2 Forms cortisol; weight loss Diamonds Futures Broker Bad Credit Loans Auto & Personal Loans Search Engine Optimization Free Home-Loan Referrals Sportsbook Website Design & Marketing Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Security Systems Helzberg Diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Bonus Casino Poker Games ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Mailing Lists Mystery Shopping Jobs Debt Consolidation Loans Canadian Pharmacy Air Purifiers Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams