Hazardous Materials Hauler Explodes on California’s 91 Freeway
A fuel tanker hauling almost 9,000 gallons of gasoline overturned, spilled and burned on the eastbound 91 freeway in Corona, California on the Friday morning before Memorial Day weekend. The blast sent 3 people to a local hospital for minor injuries, but the driver was uninjured and no one was killed.
The 91 freeway is one of Southern California’s most congested and populated freeways, serving as the only major road from Riverside to Orange County. According to the California Highway Patrol, over 300,000 trips are made on the 91 in this area daily. Lanes were closed for roughly eight hours while authorities dealt with safety hazards that were present in both east and westbound lanes.
According to a story published in the Los Angeles Times, CHP officers said the crash was the result of a chain reaction accident that started with two cars. According to officers, the driver who was hauling the fuel tanker took evasive action to avoid further collision, but lightly struck another vehicle and overturned, causing an explosion and a large fire after the truck overturned.
According to the Los Angeles Times, witnesses reported that flames reached about 100 feet and smoke could be seen from as far as thirty miles away. Authorities let the fire burn itself out over the course of several hours before clean up crews could even begin working on the scene’s wreckage.
As amazing as it is that this accident occurred relatively injury-free on such a congested freeway, it really demonstrates why California law requires a single limit liability of $1-$5 million woven into the commercial California truck insurance in of fuel tankers hauling compressed gas or other compressed hazardous materials.
Simply hauling the truck remains away and cleaning up the un-burned fuel would cost a tremendous amount of money, much less the damages associated if anyone was seriously injured or killed.
The lesson? Drive defensively and be extremely mindful of trucks on the road. One little two-car fender bender may seem insignificant—until it ruins almost a half a million vacationer’s start to their Memorial Day weekend!
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