A 42-year-old Liberty, Missouri man was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer early Saturday after stepping into the roadway on Interstate 70 in Saline County following a previous crash. The collision happened around 2:43 a.m. on the eastbound lanes near mile marker 62.0, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the KSHB 41 Kansas City report, the man had stepped into the roadway after an earlier crash when he was struck by a Freightliner Cascadia, a 2027 model, traveling east on I-70. The truck was driven by a 60-year-old man from Annapolis, Maryland, who was not reported injured, per the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The crash remains under investigation by Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop A.
The death marks the second fatal pedestrian collision on this same stretch of I-70 in less than a week. Just six days earlier, on Sept. 6, a 66-year-old Columbia man was struck and killed by a Freightliner semi-truck while walking in the eastbound right lane at mile marker 70.4 — roughly eight miles from Saturday’s crash site, as Hoodline reported at the time. Both incidents occurred late at night in the same rural corridor.
What State Guidance Says About Leaving a Vehicle
The circumstances echo a broader hazard Missouri officials have flagged on interstate highways: motorists who step out of a vehicle after an initial crash or breakdown, only to be struck by passing traffic. The Missouri Department of Transportation advises drivers in that situation to stay inside the vehicle, according to MoDOT. The agency also runs a statewide Motorist Assist program reachable by dialing *55…