On June 19, 2021, about 2:21 p.m. central daylight time, a series of vehicle collisions occurred in the northbound lanes of Interstate 65 (I-65) near Greenville, Alabama, in Butler County. This investigation focuses on one multivehicle crash sequence involving 10 passenger vehicles and 2 commercial trucks. Several passenger vehicles were slowing or had stopped due to earlier crashes, creating a traffic queue at the northern end of the bridge that crosses Pigeon Creek. A 2020 Ford Explorer collided with a vehicle at the end of the traffic queue. A 2020 Volvo truck-tractor with a Cottrell trailer for transporting automobiles collided with the Ford Explorer, initiating a series of additional collisions in both travel lanes. A 2005 Freightliner truck-tractor/2009 Wabash dry trailer combination vehicle that was following behind the Volvo auto-transporter combination vehicle collided with several vehicles and continued into the median. The two commercial trucks and four passenger vehicles, including a 2017 transit van, came to rest in the center median. A postcrash fire ensued and destroyed the vehicles in the median. Ten vehicle occupants died and 19 others sustained injuries. At the time of the crash, there was light rain, and the roadway was wet. The posted speed limit was 70 mph.
We determined that the probable cause of the Greenville, Alabama, crash was the unsafe speeds of multiple vehicles during rain, low visibility, and wet road conditions. Contributing to the fatal injuries of the transit van passengers was the postcrash fire.
