South Brunswick Township Police Department
- A Tesla struck a broken-down tractor-trailer on Route 1 in New Jersey on Monday.
- The driver told authorities that he was using cruise control and wasn't paying attention.
- The car was destroyed but the driver only had minor injuries, local police said.
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A Tesla collided with a tractor-trailer in New Jersey on Monday morning, tearing the roof off one side of the car.
The driver told local police that he was using cruise control and wasn't paying attention at the time of the crash, officers said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which regulates vehicles' safety in the US, told Reuters it was investigating the crash. It said it had contacted both Tesla and local law enforcement, and would "act accordingly when we have more information."
It's the latest in a long line of NHTSA investigations into Tesla crashes: the regulator said in mid-March it had 23 active investigations into Tesla crashes.
This included two crashes that happened in Michigan within the space of a week. One was a collision between a Tesla sedan and a tractor-trailer that critically injured at least one person. The other happened after a man driving a Tesla Model Y on Autopilot crashed into a Michigan state police car.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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This shredded the roof off the passenger's side of the vehicle, police said. The driver had minor injuries but refused medical treatment, the police added.
South Brunswick Township Police Department
The driver, identified only as a 44-year-old man from Baltimore, said he had his cruise control on "when he momentarily lost focus on the roadway," causing the collision, police said. They determined that the driver was distracted at the time of the crash.
"This crash could easily have been fatal, and easily have been prevented if the driver was paying attention," police chief Raymond Hayducka said.