The news media provided extensive coverage of an unusual gravel truck accident near Houston in August 2011. A big rig’s hydraulic lift engaged while the truck was driving merrily along a freeway. This caused the massive trailer of the rig to up-end. It must’ve been a startling sight to other drivers on the highway at the time to see this gravel truck driving along with its trailer lifting perpendicular to the trailer bed. The curious spectacle came to a rather abrupt end when the vertical trailer caught on a massive exit sign suspended across I-45 at Airline Drive. The force of the impact separated the trailer from the rest of the gravel truck, and the driver finally became aware that there was a problem. He must have spent some moments gazing in bewilderment at the bizarre image of his trailer hanging off of the freeway sign as his truck’s hydraulic fluid leaked all over the road.
A news follow-up mentions that this gravel truck accident resulted from the driver’s lack of familiarity with the vehicle was driving. Yes, he pressed the wrong button. Perhaps he thought he was changing the channel on the radio. One wonders: can a gravel truck driver not feel it inside his cab when the truck’s center of gravity shifts? Can he not feel a major change to vehicle aerodynamics when his massive trailer lifts skyward? Is this whole process of hydraulic shifting unnaturally quiet? Or was the driver perhaps listening to his favorite music at maximum volume? I’m just wondering, because I have a tiny suspicion that if I were driving a big rig, I might notice such a substantial change before I scraped my trailer off on a highway sign. I admit I could be wrong.
It seems no one was injured by this gravel truck accident near Houston, which is a blessing. This truck accident is just so bizarre it might be almost comical if I didn’t fear that my tax dollars will be paying for the highway hydraulic fluid cleanup and perhaps the highway sign repair too. Many people have already paid for the incident with their time. The accident shut down all northbound lanes of I-45 at Airline Drive for about 8 hours as workers cleaned up leaked fluid and tested the highway sign for damage.
We Pasadena, TX truck accident lawyers mention this accident to reiterate what we’ve said before: truck drivers should familiarize themselves with the actual trucks they drive. This gravel truck accident provides a particularly image worthy example of what happens when truckers fail in this essential task. This accident didn’t take anyone’s life. But it could have. So we reiterate to all drivers: whatever your vehicle, learn how it works and how to drive it before you take it out on our roads. Know your vehicle. Your knowledge could save a life. And it doesn’t hurt to save our road signs too. Those things are costly.