Driver killed in head-on crash on Route 844 in Hopewell Township
A driver died Thursday night when his SUV crossed the centerline on Route 844 in Hopewell Township and struck another car head-on.
State police said the driver was traveling west on the highway near Linwood Drive shortly before midnight when his SUV drove into the eastbound lane and crashed into a vehicle heading the other way.
The 77-year-old driver whose vehicle crossed the centerline was flown by medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, where police said he died. Investigators did not immediately release the man’s name or hometown.
The name and condition of the 23-year-old driver of the other vehicle was not immediately released.
Volunteer firefighters from Canton Township and West Middletown assisted state police at the crash scene, a Washington County 911 dispatch supervisor said.
It was the second crash on Route 844 that closed the corridor in western Washington County in less than eight hours.
The other crash happened shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday when two trucks crashed head-on while traveling on Route 844 near its intersection with Route 50 in Independence Township, the 911 dispatch supervisor said. Both drivers were flown by medical helicopters to Pittsburgh area hospitals, where their names and conditions were not immediately known.
Route 844 was closed for about an hour while state police investigated and crews cleaned up the scene, the dispatcher said. Fire departments from Avella, West Middletown and Franklin Community in Brooke County, W.Va., assisted at the crash site.
State police did not immediately release a crash report on the accident.