Savage, MD — September 11, 2025, one person was killed due to a truck accident at approximately 3:30 a.m. along Interstate Highway 95.

According to authorities, one person was traveling in a northbound Land Rover on I-95 in the vicinity of Gorman Road when the accident took place.

Officials indicate that, for as yet unknown reasons, a collision occurred between the front-end of the SUV and the rear-end of an 18-wheeler that had been stationary on the shoulder of the interstate. The person who had been behind the wheel of the Land Rover reportedly sustained fatal injuries and was declared deceased at the scene. No other injuries have been reported. Additional details pertaining to this incident—including the identity of the victim—are not available at this point in time. The investigation is currently ongoing.

Commentary

When someone crashes into the rear of a stopped 18-wheeler on the shoulder of a highway, many people assume the driver of the smaller vehicle must have drifted off course or wasn’t paying attention. But that assumption leaves out a crucial question: Was the truck supposed to be there in the first place—and was it visible enough to avoid?

The reporting says the 18-wheeler was stationary on the shoulder. That could mean it had a mechanical problem, pulled over for rest, or was responding to some other emergency. But without knowing why it was there, it's impossible to say whether its presence was reasonable—or potentially hazardous.

Commercial drivers are trained to follow strict rules when stopping on the side of the road. Federal regulations require that they activate hazard lights immediately and deploy reflective warning devices within 10 minutes. Those steps aren’t optional—they exist because a trailer sitting in the dark at 3:30 a.m. is a deadly obstacle if another driver doesn’t see it in time.

What’s not clear from the current reporting is whether the trucker followed those rules. Was the shoulder wide enough to safely accommodate the vehicle? Were hazard lights on? Were warning triangles placed behind the trailer as required? If any of those steps were skipped—or done poorly—it could have left the SUV driver with little or no chance to avoid a collision.

I’ve seen situations where drivers followed the law to the letter and still couldn’t prevent a crash. But I’ve also seen cases where a poorly marked or improperly stopped truck turned a manageable situation into a fatal one. That’s why these incidents have to be investigated thoroughly—not just for what the SUV driver did, but for what the trucker and their company did, or failed to do, before the crash ever happened.

Key Takeaways

• It’s unknown whether the 18-wheeler was stopped for a valid reason or whether it was properly secured and marked.
• Federal rules require hazard lights and warning triangles when trucks stop on the shoulder; compliance should be verified.
• A poorly marked trailer at night can be nearly invisible, even to attentive drivers.
• The truck driver's actions—and the trucking company’s policies—must be part of any full investigation.
• Real answers require more than assumptions; they require evidence of what safety steps were taken, and when.