Once again, a tractor trailer accident has demonstrated that the danger of a semi truck going out of control doesn’t stop when the vehicle does. Instead, it expands depending on how much of the vehicle’s cargo was spilled as a result of the accident.
Early in the first week of May, a tractor trailer overturned in Moon Township, near Beaver Pennsylvania. The accident took place on Moon Township’s University Boulevard in the morning around 9:15.
Moon’s Police Chief, Leo McCarthy, said that the truck was carrying a load of scrap metal. The truck was attempting to make a left turn onto University Boulevard from Stoops Ferry Road. In making the turn, the truck overturned and crashed. The fall sent the truck’s metal cargo spilling out all over the highway. Compounding the matter were the multiple gallons of diesel fuel that were also spilled, presumably when the massive vehicle’s large fuel tanks were ruptured in the crash.
According to McCarthy, the driver of the truck became trapped in the cab of his truck for a number of minutes. Firefighters and other local rescue crews had to be called in, first to help free the driver of the crashed truck, then to try and contain the leaking diesel fuel as quickly as possible.
According to rescue workers, the driver was alert and conscious at the scene, but he was taken to the local medical facilities for evaluation. McCarthy did not know what extent of injuries the man had suffered, nor did he comment on whether drugs, alcohol, or exhaustion had contributed to the accident — three common factors in unexplained crashes.
Fortunately, no one else was injured in the accident, and crews worked quickly to get the wreck clear of the road, along with the spilled cargo and hazardous fuel spill.
