Osceola County, FL — January 14, 2026, one person was killed and another was injured in a truck accident at about 2:35 a.m. on State Route 60.

Authorities said a westbound semi-truck collided with another semi-truck, a Peterbilt, that had been stopped in traffic near Peavine Road. The impact knocked the Peterbilt truck into a Ford pickup, while the other truck caught fire.

The driver of the burning truck, whose name has not been made public yet, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash near Yeehaw Junction, according to authorities.

The Peterbilt driver, a 48-year-old Eagle Lake man, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after the crash, authorities said, while the pickup driver was not injured.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Osceola County crash at this time.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear that one semi-truck rear-ended another on a dark stretch of highway, a few basic questions usually come to mind: Why did the truck stop? Why didn’t the other one slow down? Was anyone even paying attention?

Those are all fair questions, especially when one truck driver ends up dead and another is in the hospital. But here’s what stands out to me about this crash: the details we don’t have may be the most important.

Authorities say one semi-truck was stopped in traffic on State Route 60 near Peavine Road, and another one slammed into it. That impact pushed the stopped truck into a nearby pickup, and the other rig caught fire. The driver of the burning truck didn’t survive.

Right now, we don’t know why the Peterbilt was stopped. Was there construction? A traffic signal? A previous wreck? Or did the truck break down in the roadway? That matters, a lot. If the stopped truck had its hazard lights on, or warning triangles out, it may have been doing everything right. But if it came to a sudden or unexpected stop without warning, that could shift the conversation about who’s responsible.

Likewise, it’s unclear what the moving truck driver was doing before the collision. Was he fatigued? Distracted? Speeding? These aren’t just rhetorical questions; there are specific tools that can help answer them. Cell phone records, engine control module (ECM) data and in-cab cameras (if installed) can all tell us whether the driver was paying attention, how fast the truck was going and whether brakes were applied in time.

I’ve handled cases like this before where a rear-end collision looked simple on paper, but the investigation revealed problems with driver training, equipment maintenance or even company policies that pushed drivers to stay on the road too long. In one case, we found a trucking company had hired a driver with multiple terminations on his record, based on a 20-minute road test. The company’s lack of oversight turned out to be a major factor in the crash.

That’s why it’s critical to dig deeper before drawing any conclusions here. It’s not enough to say one truck hit another; what matters is why. The answer to that determines who should be held accountable.

Key Takeaways:

• It's unclear why the Peterbilt truck was stopped in the road, and whether it gave proper warning to other drivers.
• The westbound truck’s actions before the crash — including speed, braking and driver attentiveness — remain unanswered.
• Critical evidence like ECM data, cell phone records and dash cams could clarify what happened.
• Trucking company policies, training and hiring practices may also factor into responsibility.
• A thorough investigation is essential to determine who should be held accountable for the fatal crash.