Police: Truck Strikes Pole Trying to Avoid Tractor

As the third-most populated municipality in the Lehigh Valley, Lower Macungie Township has its share of urban characteristics. Vehicles roll through en masse along the Route 222 Bypass with occasional high-speed and multi-vehicle accidents,

But the township also maintains a rural character with its back roads and farm fields. Oddly enough, this polar opposite has its hazards, too.

Take, for example, a recently released police report from that lists vehicles involved in a July 10 accident. One was a Ford F-250 pickup truck. Not so unusual. But the second one might stump the agriculturally challenged among us: a Maxxum 5130A. That one's not so recognizable, although farmers will tell you that's a tractor.

Thomas C. Wetzel, 18, of Macungie encountered the tractor about 2:30 p.m. as both approached each other in the area of 7529 Mountain Road. Wetzel was driving west near Schoeneck Road. He rounded a curve and saw the tractor, driven by Chad F. Oldt, 30, of Kutztown, heading eastbound on Mountain Road, police said.

Wetzel swerved his truck to avoid the tractor's boom arm, which protruded into his lane of travel, police said. However, his passenger-side mirror struck a utility pole.

The mirror was ripped from the truck, entered the passenger side and struck in the head the other occupant, Carol A. Wetzel, 54, also of Macungie. Despite a large bump on the side of her head, the passenger denied pain and refused medical treatment, police said.

Both vehicles were driven from the scene. Police said no citations are expected to be filed.