More details shed light on fatal motor vehicle crash on US Highway 6 last summer
Jenna deJong/Summit Daily News
More details have been revealed about the fatal June 21, 2021 motor vehicle accident on US Highway 6.
According to the Colorado State Patrol traffic accident report, the incident occurred around 12:15 p.m. on Highway 6 in Keystone at Mile 215. The report states that Andrew Smith, a resident of Keystone, 33, was heading east in a green Dodge Ram. 1500 pickups when it crossed the westbound lanes and crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer.
The report says Smith was driving too fast and did not attempt any evasive maneuvers to avoid crashing.
Although the accident happened overnight, the weather was clear and the road was dry, straight and level.
Smith died in the crash. Summit County Coroner Regan Wood was called to the scene.
Darin Poole, 50, from Westminster, drove the semi. Poole was driving a white 2016 Kenworth T680 owned by Schnell Transport and traveling westbound on Highway 6. The State Patrol report said Poole tried to steer and brake to avoid colliding with the pickup.
The two vehicles collided head-on and became entangled. One of the agencies that responded was Summit Fire & EMS, which helped extricate Poole.
Poole was taken to St. Anthony Summit Hospital for his injuries.
The report from Summit Fire & EMS indicates that the tractor-trailer was carrying approximately 50-100 gallons of diesel that was on the roadway and actively leaking due to tank damage. Summit Fire and State Patrol officials worked to clean up the mess. Summit Fire’s report says seven booms – floating physical barriers meant to slow the spread of oil – were used along with 10 sorbent pads and five bags of Oil-Dri used to soak up the oil.
Summit Fire’s report says that due to the complexity of the accident and spill, officials remained at the scene “for an extended period”.