SMYTH COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - A Michigan woman was killed in a tractor-trailer crash in Smyth County on November 21, according to Virginia State Police.
Police say the crash occurred at 6:10 p.m. on I-81S.
42-year-old Nichole Smith, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was driving south on I-81 when she drove off the left side of I-81 at mile marker 37, continued into the median, hit a guardrail, and flipped. A portion of the tractor-trailer was in the left southbound travel lane. Smith was ejected from the vehicle and landed in the median. Moments later, the driver of an oncoming tractor-trailer traveling south encountered the overturned tractor-trailer in the travel lane and was unable to avoid hitting it. The impact from the crash caused the second tractor-trailer driver to drive off the left side of the interstate and into the median, where they hit Smith.
Smith was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the second tractor-trailer, who was identified as a 64-year-old man from California, wasn’t injured in the crash.