Donegal Township, WV — Authorities in Donegal Township said that there was a semi-truck crash along I-70 near the WV border in the small town of West Alexander on Wednesday, February 25, 2015. They said that a semi-truck hauling double-trailers lost control on I-70 and went off the side of the interstate.
The driver of the semi-truck, who wasn’t named, was ejected from the driver’s seat in the process and had to be taken to a hospital. The truck was hauling some hazardous materials, but it’s not clear if any leaked out or required cleanup.
The accident was reported on Wednesday afternoon at about 2:30 p.m. The trucking company was identified as R&L Carriers, but the truck driver wasn’t named.
Map of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary:
One of the news reports mentioned a medical condition possibly contributing to this accident, but I’m wondering if the double-trailers that were being hauled might have had something to do with it. When you’re hauling a trailer, you have to watch out for the momentum or “swinging weight” that happens as you navigate curves and such on the road. If there were two trailers here and both were heavily loaded with hazardous materials, maybe the truck just wasn’t able to pull the trailers safely without losing control. Again, perhaps the driver was really at fault or he had a medical condition, but perhaps this was caused by something out of his control as well.
— Grossman Law Offices
