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On June 23, 2023, Perla Andrade was traveling north on I-55 when her vehicle ran out of fuel. She pulled over onto the shoulder at 3:13 a.m. and exited her car. Within two minutes, she was struck by a semi-truck that immediately fled the scene.

Perla was killed. The driver of the semi-truck has yet to be found and brought to justice.

Perla was a loving mother of two who always went out of her way to help others. She liked long drives, her job at BP, the fall season, and dressing up for Halloween. According to her family and close friends, she was always the life of the party, and she is deeply missed by all of them.

On November 8, 2022, Trisha Henshaw was traveling north on Interstate 5 from her home in Southern California to visit friends and family in Northern California. I-5 is a busy corridor that runs the length of the state, where passenger cars and large semi-trucks loaded with freight share lanes over hundreds of miles.

Several hours into her trip, traffic came to a standstill on the interstate and the semi-truck behind Trisha failed to stop, colliding into the back of her car and sandwiching her between the semi-truck and an SUV. Her car was completely destroyed and she was pronounced dead on the scene.

Trisha made life-long friendships wherever she went and was the center of gravity for her many friends and beloved family. Her spirit and kindness are missed, but live on through the lives of those she touched. She leaves behind her husband and two children.

On October 14, 2022, Kristen Kalbfleisch was driving home to see family on Highway I-29 from Lincoln, NE to Kansas City, MO.

At around 11:30 a.m. that day, she approached a large traffic jam from an earlier crash and reduced her speed to a crawl. Suddenly, she noticed a rapidly-moving semi-truck in her rearview mirror barreling toward her. She later shared that it was the most bizarre feeling in the world to know you’re about to get hit incredibly hard but being unable to process a single thought. She recalls screaming and looking out her window, while flipping upside-down over and over again. Her incredible 6-year-old black lab, Bo-Jax, was in the car with her.

When her car had finished rolling, she was upside down. She frantically searched for Bo-Jax, whose tail and two back legs had become pinned between the headrest and the roof of the car. She yelled his name, but he did not move. She pushed him through the smashed driver-side back window, bleeding all over. Emergency medical personnel took her to the hospital for treatment after they arrived at the scene.

Kristen is due to make a full physical recovery, but is suffering great emotional and mental anguish.

On August 25, 2022, U.S. Diplomat, mother of two, and wife, Sarah (Debbink) Langenkamp, was tragically killed while biking home from her sons’ new elementary school in Bethesda, Maryland.

Sarah had just returned in July to the United States from Ukraine, where she led a team managing some of the U.S. government’s most sensitive and important priorities there, such as helping to reform Ukraine’s anti-corruption institutions, holding Russia accountable for war crimes, and providing assistance to Ukraine’s national police and border guard.

An avid cyclist, Sarah had commuted by bike all over the world. On August 25, after completing a 24-mile roundtrip ride to work in downtown Washington, D.C., she was heading home from her children’s new elementary school when her phone’s map app took her down an unprotected bike lane on Bethesda’s River Road—a busy commercial route where bikes have to compete with cars and industrial traffic. She was hit and killed by a flatbed truck making a right turn into a parking lot. Sarah, who had been evacuated from Ukraine for her safety, was killed less than a month after her arrival in the Washington area.

Sarah left behind her two boys and her husband, Dan.

On Saturday, May 28, 2022, in broad daylight in Stockton, CA, Dominic Lopez-Toney’s motorcycle was hit by a semi-truck. Dominic was riding home when the truck, which was driving on the same side of the road as Dominic, attempted an illegal U-turn and struck him.

He was killed on impact.

Dominic was a medical student performing his rotations at San Joaquin General Hospital in Stockton. A tenacious worker, he was Bay Area-bred and passionate about sharing STEM education to underserved youth. He also loved to snowboard and fish. He believed that his purpose was to heal others through medicine, and his love reciprocated in abundance among his family and the many diverse communities he engaged with.

On February 1, 2022, Carolina Hincapie’s car was struck by a semi-truck while traveling east past Santa Fe, NM. She was on her way back to Houston, TX from Colorado to help her mother care for her father, and her boyfriend, Joe Korbee, was with her to help her move. After they were hit, it took emergency crews over an hour to pull Joe from the wreckage. He sustained severe, life-threatening injuries, including a traumatic brain injury.

Carolina was killed on impact.

Carolina was a wonderful person with a great sense of humor. She had everything going for her and was loved deeply by many. She was looking forward to a fresh start in Houston and was excited to be with her beloved family and friends again. In a fraction of a second, her life ended prematurely, and the lives of many others who knew her were changed forever in a crash that was completely preventable.

On October 24, 2021, Dylan Cromwell was driving the Jim Head Racing Funny Car team hauler from their home base in Columbus, OH to Las Vegas, NV for one of the last two races of the season. Just before 10 a.m., in a construction zone during a heavy rainstorm, the driver of an eastbound semi-tractor trailer lost control and crashed through a concrete barrier wall, hitting the westbound team hauler.

The semi hit Dylan directly on his driver’s-side door. His injuries took his life immediately.

Dylan was living his dream working on an N.H.R.A. Top Fuel Funny Car team. At only 23 years old, he was just at the beginning of a bright future both on and off the track.

On October 11, 2021, McKenna Winnie’s car was heading eastbound on Route 619 when her car was struck by a tractor-trailer traveling south at the intersection of Route 77. McKenna was killed in the crash. That same intersection had been the site of another crash just months earlier, when a dump truck traveling at high speeds t-boned a car.

In 2017, McKenna had only just begun her sophomore year at the University of Delaware when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. McKenna not only survived, but thrived. She pushed through the physical challenges of college, work, and everyday life with the support of her family, friends, classmates, and coworkers.

At the time of the crash, McKenna was working on her Master’s degree in public policy and public health at Rutgers and had taken a position at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research.

For those who knew her, her passing was unfathomable. She was considered a blessing to many. She was a remarkable woman who survived a brain tumor with deep faith and an enduring sense of humor. At 23, McKenna Winnie had her entire life ahead of her, but was gone in a devastating instant.