Car Collides With Street Sweeper on W.Va. 2

By MICHAELA BASHAM
Northbound traffic on W.Va. 2 was stopped for about an hour just before noon Monday for a motor vehicle crash.

The left lane had been closed for cleaning, and signs were posted to alert drivers to change lanes at mile post 36 just past the Boggs Run exit.

But Joseph Cox Jr., no age available, of Glen Dale, who witnesses said was “driving erratically” in a Ford Taurus, apparently did not merge with the rest of the traffic and collided with a directional sign placed in the left lane to alert drivers to merge prior to reaching traffic cones that blocked off the lane. The sign was toppled over and bent beyond use.

Cox then continued traveling in the left lane until he rear-ended a street sweeper, police said.

Benwood Police Chief Frank Longwell said both vehicles were “totaled” as a result of the crash. Cox and the driver of the street sweeper, West Virginia Division of Highways employee David Sibert, both were transported to an area hospital with what Longwell said appeared to be minor injuries.

However, an Ohio Valley Medical Center spokesman said neither Cox nor Sibert were treated there; a Wheeling Hospital spokesman could not be reached for comment at press time.

Cox was cited for failure to obey a traffic device and for failure to maintain control.