Washtenaw County, MI — September 19, 2022, one person was killed in a truck accident at about 5:30 p.m. on U.S. Route 23 near Pontiac Trail.

Authorities said a southbound semi-truck crossed the median near exit 45 and crashed into an SUV and two other vehicles, shutting down traffic in both directions.

A 49-year-old Plymouth woman who was in one of the vehicles died at the scene of the crash just north of Ann Arbor, according to authorities.

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

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people hear that a semi-truck crossed over a median and hit multiple vehicles, one of the first questions that comes to mind is: How does something like that even happen? And more importantly, who is responsible?

At this point, we know a southbound 18-wheeler crossed the median on U.S. Route 23 and hit an SUV and two other vehicles. One woman lost her life in that crash, but the reports don’t explain why the truck crossed into oncoming traffic. That’s not a minor detail. It’s the central issue that determines what kind of accountability this crash deserves.

Depending on the circumstances, there are many possible explanations. Was the driver distracted, perhaps by a phone? Was he fatigued from being on the road too long? Did he suffer a medical emergency? Was there a mechanical failure? Right now, none of those questions have been answered publicly. That lack of clarity should concern anyone trying to understand what really happened here.

Getting to the truth requires more than just a police report. In similar cases I’ve worked, we've had to dig into the truck’s engine control module (the “black box”) to get data on speed, braking and steering before the crash. We’ve looked at in-cab cameras, if available, to see what the driver was doing. We’ve subpoenaed cell phone records to determine whether the driver was texting or on a call at the time of the crash.

But evidence at the scene is just part of the puzzle. Sometimes we find that the real failure started long before the crash, with the company that put the driver behind the wheel. For example, I handled a case where a truck driver had been fired multiple times before being hired again without any meaningful screening. It turned out the company gave him a 20-minute road test and called it a day. That kind of hiring shortcut can lead directly to a crash like this one.

The key thing for people to understand is that a fatal crash like this doesn't happen in a vacuum. The full story doesn’t emerge until someone forces all the pieces onto the table: vehicle data, driver behavior, training records, hiring policies and more. Only then can we determine who should be held accountable and why.

Key Takeaways:

• The most critical question, why the semi crossed the median, has not been answered yet.
• Evidence like black box data, dash cams and phone records will be crucial to understanding what happened.
• Responsibility may lie not just with the driver, but potentially with the company that put him on the road.
• Serious crashes often involve a chain of failures, not a single mistake.
• A proper investigation must look beyond surface details to reveal the full story.