Two people were killed and more than a dozen other victims were injured in a grisly tractor trailer accident in Baltimore when a gas tanker skidded on the icy road and exploded.
The fatal truck crash happened early Saturday morning on Interstate 95. Bad weather had coated the roads with ice. The tanker, which was full with petrol, began skidding across the highway, hit a jersey barrier and then flipped over. The truck then burst into what witnesses say was a huge fireball. The absolute mayhem of drivers trying to avoid the crash resulted in a 67-car-pileup and 15 people transferred to area hospitals with injuries, including head trauma and broken bones. The driver of the gas tanker was killed, as was another victim. Authorities have not released any details about the dead victims.
Winter weather and icy roads this time of the year present significant dangers to drivers. All it takes is for one vehicle to lose control on the ice and in a matter of minutes, there can be dozens of vehicles crashing into each other and dozens of more victims with serious injuries – or worse.
The situation becomes even more dangerous for tractor trailer and other large vehicles because of their size. In good weather conditions, it can take a truck at least the length of a football field to slow down, but add ice and slippery roads, that stopping time can be even longer.
Another risk is jackknifing – when part of the truck begins to slide, but the other half doesn’t. This can cause the truck to flip over. As in this tragic accident, the load the truck was carrying – the gasoline – became lethal.
As law enforcement continue to investigate the deadly accident, victims and their families must begin putting back the pieces of their shattered lives. It’s devastating to lose a loved one in a fatal crash, but can be even more overwhelming during the holiday season. For those victims who were fortunate to survive the crash, the physical and emotional toll an accident like this can take can also be overwhelming. All victims and victim’s families should contact personal injury and wrongful death attorneys to find out what legal recourse they may have for their pain and losses.
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