Athens — Truck Collision on Loop 7 Leaves 1 Truck on Fire
Posted on Monday, January 28th, 2019 at 9:13 pm
On Wednesday, January 23, 2019, a collision involving two 18-wheelers occurred on the Athens Loop that left one of the trucks, which was a gasoline tanker, on fire.
According to the Athens Police Chief Buddy Hill, the two 18-wheelers had been traveling side by side in the westbound lanes of Loop 7, near FM 1616, when the driver of one of the trucks attempted to move into the other lane. The brakes on the gasoline tanker locked up, and as a result, it caught the trailer’s tires on fire.
Witnesses near the vicinity claimed that they heard a loud boom and then saw black smoke coming from the scene of the wreck.
Fortunately, the two drivers of the 18-wheelers, a 65-year-old man from Desoto and a 40-year-old man from Tyler, were not injured in the accident. Additionally, because of the quick response by the fire crews, the gasoline tanker was not compromised, and so, it didn’t explode.
It is great to hear that no one was injured in this seemingly dire accident. Unfortunately, there are other victims who are not as lucky. Vehicular accidents happen quite often nowadays. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car accidents happen almost every minute of every day, and for every 16 minutes, a car accident occurs that results in death. This can be translated to be roughly about 6 million car accidents every year and 90 people dying in car accidents every day in the U.S. alone.
An accident involving a tractor-trailer is a particular kind of vehicular accident, and it is especially deadly simply because a tractor-trailer is one of the largest and most dangerous vehicles in the world. In the United States alone, it is estimated that there are more than 2 million tractor-trailers cruising America’s roadways, and every year, they are involved in more than 500,000 accidents. And because of a tractor-trailer’s size, the results of this kind of accident are of course catastrophic, from a severe injury to death.
If you are a victim of this kind of accident yourself, or you know someone who is, or you lost a loved one because of this, then please don’t hesitate to ask for help. The police will always be there for you, but more than that, lawyers specializing in motorcycle and/or truck accidents are more than willing to help you in protecting your rights and in getting you the justice that you deserve.
