Car crash kills driver and injures three others

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On Monday, the operator of a pickup truck died and three passengers sustained serious injuries after the driver fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road near New Jersey's Frelinghuysen Township. The fatal accident happened on New Jersey Route 43 early in the morning at around 4:30 a.m., killing the 22-year old driver of the pick-up truck. His passengers all sustained varying levels of serious injury in the accident. The men riding along with the driver included a 23-year-old man who was thrown out through the windshield of the truck. He was transported to the Morristown Memorial Hospital with injuries to his lower body. The man was listed by hospital officials as being in critical condition. A 22-year-old man who was sitting behind the driver sustained severe head injuries. He was also taken to the Morristown Memorial Hospital where he was reported to be in critical condition. The third passenger, another 22-year-old man, had to be air lifted to the Morristown Memorial Hospital with a punctured lung in addition to severe injuries to his head and other injuries to his chest. According to a report by police in Frelinghuysen Township in Warren County, the vehicle carrying the four men had been traveling in the northbound lane of Route 43 prior to the accident. The driver and his passengers were apparently on their way to work at a job site. Police believe the driver fell asleep and went off the road before running head-on into a tree. Police also reported that neither the driver nor any of his three passengers were buckled into their seatbelts at the time of the fatal mishap. Source: Nazareth Patch, "Two Nazareth Men Critically Injured in Fatal Accident," Mallory Vough, Oct 2011.