Log Truck Driver Killed in Highway 70 Canyon Crash

FEATHER RIVER CANYON — The driver of a loaded log truck was killed Friday morning, August 14, when his truck crossed the center line of State Route 70 and sideswiped an empty log truck coming the other way, the California Highway Patrol said. Officers from the Highway Patrol’s Quincy Area office responded at about 8:24 AM to a report of the collision, three miles west of Rush Creek in Plumas County. The driver of the loaded truck was pronounced dead at the scene.

The loaded truck was traveling east and the unloaded truck was traveling west, both at undetermined speeds, according to the Highway Patrol’s preliminary investigation. “For an unknown reason, the driver of the loaded log truck allowed his vehicle to cross the broken yellow line directly into the path of the unloaded log truck and sideswiped the unloaded log truck,” the agency said in a statement posted by its Quincy Area office. The loaded truck then struck a rock wall, and the unloaded truck struck a guardrail.

The Highway Patrol reported at 11:30 AM that Highway 70 was under one-way traffic control at mile post marker 20.93 due to the collision. The highway was fully open again by 1:40 PM.

The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the death investigation in coordination with the Highway Patrol’s collision investigation. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and coworkers of the driver who lost their life,” the Highway Patrol wrote. The agency asked anyone with information about the crash to call the Quincy Area office at 530-283-1100.