View Tractor trailer overturns in a larger map Update: Interstate 81 is reported open as of 9:45 a.m. LaFayette, NY -- A tractor-trailer driver using a GPS on his cell phone caused a crash this morning that shut down both sides of Interstate 81 in LaFayette, state police said. About 6:30 a.m., a BAH Express tractor-trailer carrying sofas northbound...
View Tractor trailer overturns in a larger map
Update: Interstate 81 is reported open as of 9:45 a.m.
LaFayette, NY -- A tractor-trailer driver using a GPS on his cell phone caused a crash this morning that shut down both sides of Interstate 81 in LaFayette, state police said.
About 6:30 a.m., a BAH Express tractor-trailer carrying sofas northbound to Syracuse crossed over a lane, plowed through a guard rail and drove along the southbound lane before rolling over on its side.
The driver, Dwayne Collins, 48, of Morrow, Ga., received a cut on his leg and was treated at the scene by the LaFayette Fire Department. The crash occurred when Collins was looking at his GPS on a hand-held cell phone, said Sgt. Susan Lockyer.
"He did not hit any southbound cars, somehow,'' Lockyer said.
Collins was ticketed for using a cell phone while driving and for making an unsafe lane change.
The crash also caused a minor oil and fuel spill, which the state Department of Environmental Conservation is handling.
The crash shut down I-81 in both directions between the LaFayette and Nedrow exits.
Workers righted the truck at 9 a.m. and were pulling it off the highway.
The crash backed up traffic for miles in both directions.