A Grand Junction man falls asleep behind the wheel and crashes head-on into a power pole.
The accident happened a little before five Saturday morning at the intersection of Orchard Avenue and Ashley Lane. It closed Orchard Avenue to traffic between 28 3/4 Road and 29 Road for more than five hours.
Officials say 55–year–old Fred Sampson was on his way to work in the oil field when he dozed off. Sampson drifted off the road and smashed into a power pole completely destroying it. Troopers say luckily Sampson wasn't hurt, but that crashes like this are becoming more common because oil field workers work such long hours.
A lot of these oil field guys are working long hours and so we have a lot of these accidents that are a result of the fatigue. Sampson was cited for careless driving. Xcel energy replaced the power pole and no one was injured.
