Cause of fatal semitrailer accident still unknown

Bend police released the names of the commercial truck drivers who died Wednesday after their vehicles collided head-on on U.S. Highway 97 in southern Bend.

Rick D. Woodworth, of Oldtown, Idaho, and Ronald R. Engelsman, of Hayward, Wis., drove the semitrailers that crashed Wednesday afternoon, just south of where U.S. Highway 97 splits, according to a news release Thursday. The collision created a massive tower of smoke and blocked Highway 97 for nearly four hours.

The cause of the crash was still unknown Thursday, according to police, and no passengers were in the trucks at the time of the crash.

Woodworth’s truck, fully loaded with orange juice concentrate, was northbound when he drove across a median lane and crashed into Engelsman’s empty semitrailer, according to police.

Bend police and Oregon State Police troopers are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash, said Bend Police Lt. Ken Stenkamp. They had not set a timeline for finishing the investigation as of Thursday.

”We have to look at equipment, the driver, all sorts of things as far as trying to determine why the vehicle crossed over,” Stenkamp said.

The accident occurred at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Oregon Department of Transportation workers finished clearing debris from the highway at about 5:45 a.m., said Heidi Hiaasen, a department spokeswoman.

Northbound driver Woodworth, 41, was driving a 2007 Peterbilt truck for Produce Supply Express, a trucking company based in Spokane, Wash. He was transporting barrels of orange juice concentrate from somewhere in California to Yakima, Wash., according to Lom Hutchens, son of Produce Supply Express owner John Hutchins.

Engelsman, 61, didn’t have any cargo in his truck, according to Tom Pydo, operations manager for Ladysmith, Wis.-based Rands Trucking, Inc. Pydo declined to say where Engelsman was headed.

Pydo estimated that Engelsman’s empty 2006 Freightliner truck weighed about 34,000 pounds, while Produce Supply Express owner John Hutchins said Woodworth’s truck weighed roughly 70,000 pounds fully loaded. Semitrailers can carry between 200 and 300 gallons of gasoline, Pydo said.

Produce Supply Express managers didn’t know how many hours Woodworth had been driving when the crash occurred, Lom Hutchins said.

”All that information burned up with him,” he said.

Federal rules limit the number of consecutive hours commercial truck drivers can work, depending on how many hours of off-duty time they’ve had.

The crash was the first time a Produce Supply Express driver has died while on the job, John Hutchins said.

”When something like this happens it tears me up,” Hutchins said. ”I feel sorry for the other driver and the family.”

Woodworth had only one traffic violation in Oregon, for an overloaded truck near Klamath Falls in 2001, according to the Oregon Judicial Information Database. A Washington State Police criminal history report did not list traffic violations.

Hutchins said Woodworth was a ”real good” driver, who had been involved in just one accident in his eight years driv-ing for Produce Supply Express. In that accident, another driver crashed into the side of Woodworth’s truck, Hutchins said.

Three other Produce Supply Express trucks were following behind Woodworth and witnessed their co-worker’s death, John Hutchins said.

”They’re pretty shook up,” Hutchins said. The company has 55 trucks in its fleet, he said.

Woodworth, who stood 6 foot 3 inches and weighed about 300 pounds, according to the judicial information database, was not married and had no children, Hutchins said. His father was also a trucker, Hutchins said.

Engelsman, the driver of the southbound truck, was an 18-year veteran of the trucking business who also was a careful driver, said his boss.

”He was very meticulous about his job,” Pydo said.

Engelsman was married with two grown children, Pydo said.

”He was a good guy,” Pydo said, ”he was a guy you’d want to call your friend.”