The Lowell Sun reports:

WESTFORD — Two men from central Massachusetts are dead after the sport utility vehicle they were riding in early yesterday morning was rear-ended on Interstate 495, propelling it out of control across the median and into the path of a tractor-trailer.

This Its 13-mile stretch from Route 4 in Chelmsford to Route 111 has been among the state’s top 4 locations for number of incidents last year, It is a very busy and heavily traveled road. My wife and I use the road routinely to visit my youngest son and his children, and it frequently gets a bit crazy and hazardous with people lane changing at high speeds without signaling and poor driving habits in general. The road is patroled by the State Police, but they can’t be everywhere all at once. The irony is that this stretch of road has been under construction to improve conditions and safety. In fact, the area of the collision was freshly paved and in good to excellent conditions.

If you drive this section of road, please, use caution and stay safe. Saving a few milliseconds on a trip is not worth losing what would have been the rest of your life. Back in February, less than 4 miles down the road, 2 men were killed when the pickup truck they were in struck a sign pole so hard the Jaws of Life had to be used just to remove the truck from the sign. The passanger in that case was dead at the scene and the driver died enroute to treatment. Both men were pulled from a burning vehicles only after fire personnel arrived and made access to the victims possible.

From the local Littleton paper:

As if the accident weren’t enough, Carter said the operation was hampered by “people who don’t pay attention to us” and cause a further safety hazard. “It’s a dangerous highway,” he said.