Personal Injury Law

Tractor Trailer Overturns on Kansas City Ramp and Spills Cargo of Live Pigs on Road

By Jeffrey Lowe

As a Missouri trucking accident lawyer, I was interested to read about an accident in Claycomo, Mo. recently that caused an unusual cargo spill: live pigs. According to the Kansas City Star, a truck overturned on the ramp from Interstate 435 to Interstate 35 on the morning of Jan. 24. A spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol said the truck driver took the curve too fast, causing him to lose control, go off the road and overturn the truck. The accident killed several of the 700-plus live pigs that were the truck?s cargo, and caused 35 to 40 to get loose on the interstate. The driver was not injured, but the crash closed the ramp for about five hours.

The Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman said the trucker was ?just too fast for the curve,? causing the crash at around 8:30 a.m. The crash flipped the truck over at the side of the interstate, spilling its cargo of pigs. The pigs reportedly wandered loose on the road and adjacent areas after the crash, until emergency responders were able to corral them. The spokesman said rounding them up was challenging, because ?they go every which way but the way you want them to go.? A veterinarian from Kansas treated injured pigs, and they were loaded onto another truck as emergency crews tried to turn the original truck back upright. The job would have been more challenging if the hogs had been full-grown, the patrolman said, but they were only the size of dogs.

KCTV had footage of emergency crews at the scene.

This story is provoking some giggles online because of the image of pigs ?running wild? on a highway junction. But as a southern Illinois semi truck accident attorney, I know how easily this accident could have been a tragedy. Any rollover involving a large truck is a cause for concern because large trucks could literally crush anything they fall on, thanks to their huge size and weight. A cargo spill on the interstate could also be a serious hazard. A large load of anything falling on the highway creates a reason to brake quickly or take evasive action, which could cause problems if not every driver is paying attention, A load of uncontrollable live animals makes that problem significantly worse. It?s fortunate that this crash didn?t cause any of those problems, but the crash is a reminder that all truckers, and especially those with live or hazardous cargo, need to be careful on curves.

Full post as published by Trucking Accident Attorney Blog on February 02, 2011 (boomark / email).