Salt Lake City, UT — July 6, 2025, one person was killed and another was injured in a truck accident at about 9:20 a.m. on Interstate 80/Lincoln Highway.

Authorities said a semi-truck was headed west near 7200 West when it drifted into the median. It overturned and crashed into a cable barrier.

The truck driver died after being flown to a local hospital, while the passenger was hospitalized with unspecified injuries, according to authorities. Their names have not been made public yet.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Salt Lake County crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When an 18-wheeler drifts off course and overturns into the median, the public’s first reaction is often to assume the truck driver made a fatal mistake. That may prove true here. But from my experience handling similar crashes, I’ve learned not to jump to conclusions without first asking the hard questions: What caused the driver to lose control? What role, if any, did the trucking company’s practices play in setting this crash in motion?

At this point, authorities haven’t said whether the truck veered on its own or whether some external factor — like a sudden medical event, mechanical failure or evasive maneuver — contributed to it leaving the road. Without that context, we’re left with a long list of unanswered questions.

For example, was the driver distracted at the time of the crash? Phone records can confirm whether a call or text was in progress. Was the truck equipped with in-cab cameras that might show whether the driver was alert or slumped at the wheel? The truck’s ECM, or black box, should also reveal whether the driver braked, accelerated or swerved right before the crash, key data that can help clarify what the driver saw and how they responded.

Even if the trucker did lose focus, we still need to ask: How did this person come to be behind the wheel of a multi-ton vehicle in the first place? In one case I handled, a driver who should never have been hired passed a bare-bones road test and was put to work hauling freight. When that driver eventually caused a crash, it turned out the real failure wasn’t just behind the wheel; it was in the company’s hiring and training practices.

Depending on what the evidence shows, this crash could turn out to be a matter of personal error, corporate oversight or both. But until that evidence is examined thoroughly, no one should assume they know the full story.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s not yet clear why the truck drifted into the median, whether it was due to distraction, fatigue, a medical issue or something else.
• Crucial evidence could include black box data, dashcam footage and the driver’s phone records.
• A thorough investigation should also examine the trucking company’s role in hiring, training and monitoring the driver.
• Determining the true cause of a crash like this often requires going beyond the crash scene and into the systems that put the driver on the road.