Commercial truck accidents can cause some of the most serious injuries to surrounding passenger vehicles, pedestrians and other innocent bystanders. Tanker trucks in particular are some of the most dangerous vehicles on the roads these days. Many of these vehicles carry flammable cargo, such as gasoline, fuel oil, compressed natural gas and propane, not to mention dangerous chemicals.
Serving the residents of Baltimore and surrounding Maryland communities, my personal injury law office knows how quickly an accident involving a semi tractor-trailer rig can cause serious injuries or even death to other motorists. Recently, the Pennington Avenue Bridge was closed down due to a bad collision between a gasoline tanker and a construction vehicle.
According to reports, the force of the accident nearly pushed the tanker off the bridge entirely. Based on police reports, the fuel tanker was en route to pick up 9,000 gallons of gasoline when it was struck by the other vehicle. The accident caused the tanker to became wedged over a concrete barrier wall. Although the tanker was reportedly empty at the time of the crash, the entire area was sprayed with foam as a precaution against fire.
The construction vehicle, according to reports, crossed over into the oncoming lane and hit the tanker trailer at its midsection. The truck was apparently destroyed in the vehicle crash, which left the tanker hanging partially off the bridge. Witnesses reported that the driver of the construction vehicle avoided serious injury. Based on news reports, the driver received only a bloody nose and a sore arm, according to a Baltimore Department of Public Works employee.
The accident caused sufficient damage to the bridge that engineers were concerned about the integrity of the entire structure, which comprises not one but two drawbridge sections. A four-man engineering and inspection team did a complete check of the structure and finally approved it for traffic about two hours later.
Eastern Bridge Reopened After Tanker Accident Reporting, WJZ.com, April 16, 2010