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Tractor-Trailer Accident Kills Two Truck Drivers

Posted on Nov 10, 2008

Last week, a catastrophic head-on collision of two tractor-trailer rigs killed the two drivers on U.S. Highway 281 South in Palo Pinto County.

The tractor-trailer accident occurred at the Union-Pacific railway overhead crossing approximately 10 miles south of Mineral Wells, north of the Brazos River bridge. The highway was shut down in both directions that morning, while crews from Mineral Wells Volunteer Fire Department worked to remove the fatally injured drivers from the cabs of their smashed tractor-trailers. There were no passengers in either truck.

Bobby Hart, the Palo Pinto County Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace, pronounced both truck drivers dead at the scene of the crash and ordered routine toxicology tests on both men. The drivers were identified as 25-year-old Werner “Vern” Henry Vanzuydam of Stafford, Kansas and 43-year-old Douglas Joseph Voss of Mesquite, Texas.

The crash was under investigation throughout Monday by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Based on reports and witnesses, a double-trailer rig owned by Hearn Farms Inc. of Stafford, Kansas, which was driven by Vanzuydam, was heading northbound when it moved to the left of the center of the two-lane highway at the narrow, underpass that did not have a shoulder.

Voss was heading southbound, driving a refrigerated trailer hauling various foods and grocery items in a rig owned by Jones Vending and OCS Distributors Inc. of Dallas, Texas, when he slammed on his breaks. The southbound tractor-trailer combo started to jackknife as the northbound rig slammed into its cab, which pushed the entire rig backward. Both cabs were smashed and torn apart. Voss appeared to have died from internal chest and torso injuries and Vanzuydam was crushed inside his cab.

Diesel fuel was spilled onto the highway as both fuel tanks were ripped open. The fuel went down a storm drain leading to the nearby Brazos River. An environmental cleanup crew was called to clean up the damage. Ed Bodiford, a district official with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said that the cleanup crew would look into the drain, tributary and river to stop and remove the fuel from the waters and ground.