Work crews use a crane to retrieve the tandem portion of the trailer following a morning crash of a tractor and trailer on I-81 northbound south of the 298 exit at Strasburg. Rich Cooley/Daily

By Preston Knight - pknight@nvdaily.com

STRASBURG -- Although two single-vehicle crashes on Interstate 81 occurred about seven hours apart Wednesday in Shenandoah County, one appeared to have caused the other, according to state police.

A tractor-trailer overturned on Interstate 81 around 8 a.m. at mile-marker 298.2 after the driver crossed both southbound lanes, hit the median and overturned the vehicle on the northbound side of the median, Trooper David Goins said. No other vehicles were involved and the driver, Pocock Lane Jr., 59, of Sandusky, Ohio, was not seriously injured, the trooper said.

Lane refused medical treatment at first, but later was sent to Shenandoah Memorial Hospital. The driver does not know what happened and was charged with reckless driving, Goins said.

Crews were working to remove the trailer, which was carrying boxes of mail, until about 5 p.m. The trailer broke apart, requiring additional equipment to clear the scene, Goins said. The left lane of northbound traffic was closed from the time of the crash until the trailer was hauled away, causing delayed travel on I-81 and through Strasburg.

During that time, at northbound mile-marker 292.6, a 2003 Ford Taurus ran off the interstate and into the median, where it struck several trees, Trooper A.S. Waybright said. That crash, which also involved only one vehicle and one person, occurred at about 3 p.m. as the driver attempted to avoid hitting traffic that had slowed because of the overturned tractor-trailer, he said.

The car's driver, Ann Eytcheson, 69, of Harrisburg, Pa., had to be extricated, and was taken to Winchester Medical Center with injuries that were not life threatening, Waybright said. Left lanes heading northbound and southbound were shut down for about 30 minutes as rescue personnel worked to remove the woman from the vehicle.

Eytcheson also was charged with reckless driving.

Trooper Adam Waybright looks over the crash scene after a woman ran her car off I-81 northbound into the median north of Toms Brook and crashed into a grove of trees. Rich Cooley/Daily A tractor-trailer rests in the median of I-81 facing northbound traffic just south of Exit 298 in Strasburg on Tuesday morning. State police, fire and rescue, and VDOT officials were on the scene. Rich Cooley/Daily

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