Truckers survive plunge (7 days ago)

Two Southwestern Ontario truckers were lucky to be alive yesterday, recovering in hospital after their rig tumbled off a bridge near Edmonton, rolling nearly 100 metres to the edge of a rushing river.

The brush with death for Robert Sloane of Woodstock and Raymond Johnston of Chatham came after their tractor-trailer careened down a vertical drop one observer likened to the most frightening slopes on ski mountains.

"It would be a black diamond ski slope," said Yellowhead area fire Chief Cory Chegwyn, who was among the emergency responders.

The river at the point where the semi tumbled lies nearly 100 metres below the bridge deck. The slope averages about 35 degrees.

"It anywhere from bounced to rolled all the way to the riverbed," said Chegwyn.

RCMP Const. Shane Mordeen called the crash "kind of freaky," saying the men have reason for thanks.

Source Continues

Serious Crash in Washington County (7 days ago)

ALLENTON - A 41-year-old woman suffered serious injuries in a bad accident in Washington County between her SUV and a flatbed semi-truck.

The accident happened at Hwy. 33 and Alpine Dr. just east of Hwy. 41 around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. It appears to be a head-on crash where the semi-truck tried to slam on the brakes yards ahead, indicated by thick skid marks on the road.

The Allenton Fire Department had to extricate the woman, now identified as Mary Miller of the West Bend area, from the SUV. She was taken by a Flight for Life helicopter to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.

Source

Truck Collides With 18-Wheeler In Johnson County

It took fire crews 20 minutes to free a 400-pound passenger trapped inside a pick-up truck that collided with an 18-wheeler earlier Saturday night.

The accident happened just before 6 p.m. on Highway 67 in Johnson County.

The pick-up was crushed in the crash.

Witnesses said the big rig was making a left turn when the pick-up truck was attempting to pass it.

The driver of truck and his passenger were taken by helicopter to Harris hospital.

Witnesses told police the pick-up was weaving in and out of traffic.

"To be able to knock off a steel cast iron bumper off the front end of an 18-wheeler, they had to be going pretty fast," witness Brent Sappington said.

Officials said seatbelts saved everyone involved.

"Both were wearing their seat belts. If it wasn't for that," Eddie Pahl with the Bono Fire Department said. "I imagine it would've been devastating (if not)."

None of the injuries are believed to be life threatening.

The 18-wheeler driver refused medical attention at the scene.

Source

Trucker rams rig into state trooper's car six times

A state trooper out of Harrisburg headquarters was injured Friday after a semi truck driver rammed the trooper's unmarked police car numerous times.

James W. Essman, of Piedmont, Mo., was arrested and charged with simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and terroristic threats, police said.

State Police at Fogelsville said Trooper Timothy Flickinger merged onto Interstate 78 from Route 22 into stop and go traffic when Essman rammed Flickinger's car. Police said Essman hit the car six times and pushed it underneath a school bus filled with students.

The reason why Essman smashed into the car is under investigation, police said.

Flickinger was treated at Lehigh Valley Hospital--Cedar Crest for neck and back injuries and released today, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Source

Big Rig Driver In Concord Crash Had Revoked License; Witnesses Say Incident Was Terrifying

Three people were taken to the hospital after a tractor trailer driver lost control of his rig and plowed into nearly a dozen vehicles in a restaurant parking lot in Concord.Authorities say around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Straker Junior Shuler III, 58, was driving the tractor trailer northbound on Interstate 85 when, inadvertently, he went up the ramp to Speedway Boulevard.

He told officers he didn’t realize he had exited until he saw the stoplight at the top of the ramp, and he tried to stop but couldn’t.The big rig, which was carrying household cleaning products, was going about 65 miles per hour when it entered the Texas Roadhouse Grill parking lot and began crashing into cars, Concord police said.

Officers said 11 cars in the parking lot were damaged, but the restaurant itself was not hit. The building was evacuated as a precaution.The damage to the big rig, the other cars and the restaurant property is estimated at $1 million.The Highway Patrol, which assisted the Concord police in the investigation, said Shuler has a revoked commercial driver’s license in his home state of Ohio.

Troopers cited him for that offence and also for having an improper log book.Shuler has been charged by Concord police with driving without a license and careless and reckless driving.Authorities said there were no signs that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the crash.

Source continues

Accident kills woman, 69

A 69-year-old North Carolina woman died Friday when an unattended tractor-trailer rolled down a hill and crashed into the BP gas station along Route 524.

Nancy Gawarecki, 69, of Pine Bluff, N.C., was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:05 p.m. by Lackawanna County Deputy Coroner Tim Rowland, nearly an hour after the crash occurred.

The Priority Transportation tractor with a 53-foot trailer attached was parked in the lot of a Gulf station on the north side of Route 524, township Police Chief James Romano said. It rolled downhill, across the highway into the BP station parking lot, struck Mrs. Gawarecki and crashed into the store building.

Mrs. Gawarecki was standing outside a Chevrolet Impala with North Carolina license plates parked near pumps 8 and 9. Her husband was pumping gas at the time, Chief Romano said.

“The driver wasn’t in the truck at the time,” the chief said. “When he came out and saw what happened, he had a heart attack.”

Source Continues

Four-vehicle wreck snarls I-81 traffic

Traffic was tied up for hours and one person suffered minor injuries in a four-vehicle accident Friday in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81.

The accident happened at 12:12 p.m. near Exit 3. A truck carrying a wide load accompanied by a slow-moving transport vehicle north of the accident site appears to have slowed traffic, which contributed to the accident, according to Binghamton city police.

Jonathan Croft, 28, of Corning was driving a tractor-trailer, weighing about 96,000 pounds, in the righthand lane of I-81. He couldn't stop in time for the traffic in front of him and pulled his rig into the passing lane. He then tried to slow his vehicle by sliding it against the median's concrete barrier, but still hit a truck in front of him, police said.

Source continues

Truck crashes through home

A Pike County couple was left homeless this week after a 10-wheel tractor trailer demolished their home.

The Kentucky State Police is still investigating the accident that left a tractor trailer belonging to the J.S. Reed Company in the bedroom of Lenny and Libby Ford on Lower Johns Creek.

“We ain't got a home,” Libby Ford said.

The Ford couple, who moved into the mobile home after their house burned last year, has been staying with family members since the accident Monday evening. Company owner John Reed said an insurance adjuster was scheduled to visit the site yesterday.

“I hate that it happened,” he said. “I'm glad nobody was home. Accidents happen. I don't think it was necessarily anybody's fault. It's just one of them things.”

Reed said driver Charles Thompson lost control of the truck when he had a blow-out or when he dropped a wheel off the side of the road. He couldn't regain control of the truck, which ran approximately 290 feet through a neighboring yard and fence before crashing into the mobile home.

Thompson was not injured.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Kevin Thacker, lead investigator, was unavailable for comment.

Boy Dies from Injuries in Accident That Killed His Two Sisters

A 5-year-old boy died hours after a tractor-trailer crashed into his family's minivan, killing his two young sisters and injuring his mother and grandmother, authorities said Saturday.

Kyle Coble had surgery after the Friday afternoon crash on Interstate 5 but died later in the evening at Mission Hospital. His sisters, 2-year-old Katie Coble and 4-year-old Emma Coble had died minutes apart at different hospitals earlier Friday, said Officer Katrina Lundgren of the California Highway Patrol.

Traffic had slowed to a crawl on the freeway north of Oso Parkway, and the minivan came to a stop in the slow lane. The driver of the tractor-trailer, 37-year-old Jorge Miguel Romero of Apple Valley, apparently didn't see the stopped traffic. His rig crushed the minivan and pushed it into an SUV.

"He just couldn't stop in time," Lundgren said. "There isn't any DUI suspected. There wasn't any inattention. He just couldn't stop."

Source continues

Truck falls off Interstate 95

Standing outside Maggie L. Walker Governor's School yesterday, Tony Daniels surveyed the mangled tractor-trailer that had fallen 21 feet from an Interstate 95 overpass.

The tractor-trailer veered off Interstate 95 in downtown Richmond late yesterday morning, crashing onto a grassy area behind the school near Leigh and Lombardy streets.

As Richmond police and firefighters at the wreck site walked by him, a few offered Daniels a pat on the shoulder and their compliments.

Some called him a hero.

But Daniels, an eastern Henrico County resident, says his actions weren't heroic, just the instinctive response of an average man who saw people in need.

"I was just trying to help out, that's it," he said.

When Daniels heard screams from inside the tractor-trailer's cab, he stopped his car to help, he said. When he tore open the already shredded fiberglass roof, he found a male driver and his wife trapped inside.

Source continues