Troopers cite both drivers after semi hits car stopped for photo near Healy

A semi-truck driver fell asleep at the wheel, troopers said, and struck a car stopped partly in a travel lane on the Parks Highway near Healy on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Troopers cited both drivers. All passengers went to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to trooper dispatch AK26095711.

Troopers from Nenana responded to mile 257 at about 11:19 a.m. Troopers said a 73-year-old driver from Massachusetts pulled onto the shoulder to take a photo, but his vehicle remained partly in the lane. A southbound semi-truck driven by a 32-year-old commercial driver from Anchorage struck it.

The dispatch does not list the citations or the number of passengers. State rules bar stopping within eight feet of a roadway unless it is wide enough to allow parking without interfering with traffic, under 13 AAC 02.340.

Two months earlier and about 60 miles south, a single-vehicle rollover near Mile 199, near Cantwell, left a driver with minor injuries. Troopers cited that driver for negligent driving and said fatigue was considered a contributing factor, according to dispatch AK26071304.