LYCOMING TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A crash involving a tractor-trailer and a PennDOT vehicle Thursday morning sent two people to the hospital and shut down a section of highway in Lycoming County.
Police say a tractor-trailer was northbound on Route 15 around 9 a.m. when it ran into what PennDOT calls a crash truck that was directing drivers into a single lane.
The truck driver and a PennDOT worker in the crash truck were hurt.
"These trucks are basically used to protect workers that were working in an area doing some bridge flushing. These are our county maintenance workers," said PennDOT official Dave Thompson.
This is the second wreck in recent days involving a tractor-trailer and a PennDOT crash truck.
The same thing happened earlier this month on eastbound Interstate 80 in Columbia County.
The wreck sent the truck driver and the PennDOT worker in the crash truck to the hospital for treatment.
Earlier this week, Newswatch 16 spoke with PennDOT maintenance worker Teri Wool about the importance of driving safely in construction zones.
"We've all had to throw the paddle and go because somebody was distracted," Wool said. "That fellow wants to go home. I want to go home. Take care of us, we'll take care of you."
A PennDOT foreman says Wool and her fellow crew members were the group nearly hit Thursday morning by the tractor-trailer on Route 15 near Williamsport.
"We want the people driving through our work zones to realize there are human beings working there regardless of what your opinion of PennDOT is. They are real people who have families, who have people who love them, who really want to go home safely at the end of the workday."
There is no word on the condition of the PennDOT worker or the truck driver or whether there will be charges filed after the crash.
