{From left to right} Diana Lynne Leazenby Allen Thomas Chambers and their children, Kaylen and Destiney Chambers Submitted & © by: Justin L. Smith

CRASHES OF TRUCKS TAKES TWO LIVES

A 59-year-old Eagle Rock man died early yesterday when his pickup truck crashed on an icy bridge in Augusta County, and an Oklahoma trucker was killed late Tuesday when his rig overturned in Goochland County.

Allen Blair Craft, of Eagle Rock, was driving a 1990 Ford pickup across the icy bridge on Interstate 81 when the wreck occurred at 6:35 a.m., state police said.

The truck overturned and ejected Craft just west of U.S. 11, state police said. He was not wearing a safety belt and died 10 minutes after the crash, police said.

The Oklahoma trucker, Allen Thomas Chambers, 54, of the 6400 block of Levescy Lane in Harrah, was killed just before midnight Tuesday when his rig ran off the shoulder of Interstate 64 near Gum Spring and overturned, state police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:57 p.m., state police said.

Chambers, who was employed by Burlington Motor Carriers, was driving east on I-64 when his tractor-trailer ran off the left shoulder and overturned before skidding back across the road and striking a guardrail, said state police spokeswoman Mary Evans. Chambers was ejected.

State police could not determine whether Chambers was wearing a safety belt.

Evans said Chambers was carrying a load of Frigidare washing machines from Webster City, Iowa, to Newport News. The appliances had to be unloaded and transferred to another trailer yesterday before Chambers' rig could be removed.

Police closed both eastbound lanes for about 10 minutes at 10:45 a.m. yesterday to move the truck, Evans said.

This year 875 people have been killed in Virginia highway wrecks compared with 830 at this time last year, state police said.