Driver Inattention, Fatigue Factors In Tractor-Trailer Truck Crashes: NH State Police

HOPKINTON, NH — Hopkinton police and New Hampshire state troopers are investigating two separate truck crashes in Hopkinton on Tuesday.

Around 10:45 p.m., state police from the carrier enforcement unit were requested to assist Hopkinton police with a crash on Route 127 near the Contoocook River Reservoir. When they arrived, investigators found a tractor-trailer truck had struck a guardrail. Western Express Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee, owned the truck.

“The crash resulted in a portion of the guardrail becoming entangled in components of the trailer, causing significant damage to both a portion of the guardrail and the trailer,” Amber Lagace, a public information officer for state police, said.

While there, troopers learned the same operator — Mark Semple, 63, of Kittery, Maine, and the vehicle he was driving, had struck another tractor-trailer earlier in the evening, which resulted in substantial damage to the other vehicle, she said.

Semple was not injured in either crash, but he and the truck were taken out of service.

“An out-of-service order is given to a commercial driver or vehicle that violates a certain set of conditions with the purpose to protect the public from imminent safety hazards,” Lagace said. “The operator was temporarily prohibited from driving and the tractor- trailer was towed from the scene.”

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation assisted troopers and Hopkinton police with the case.

Driver inattention and fatigue, Lagace said, were believed to be factors in the crash.

Anyone with information about the crashes was asked to contact Hopkinton police.

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