ST GENEVIEVE, MO — Highway Patrol has identified Kevin Wright as the truck driver that was hurt in an accident between two 18-wheelers that happened in St Genevieve County, Missouri on Tuesday, March 24th, 2015. Highway Patrol reports pinpointed the time of the accident around 6:30 Tuesday morning.
Authorities familiar with details of the accident said that 39-year-old Kevin Wright was hurt when the tractor-trailer he was driving struck another semi-truck while driving in the northbound lanes of Interstate 55. Police in charge of the investigation said that Wright’s truck hit the back of a semi-truck for reasons currently under investigation. After the collision, Wright’s truck drove off the road and erupted into flames.
Wright was flown by helicopter to St Francis Hospital where he was being treated for injuries that were deemed “serious”.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol responded to the accident scene along with local police.
Scene of the Accident
View of the Road
Commentary:
If the official report from police turns out to be true, and the tractor-trailer erupted into flames after the initial collision. Now, does anybody have the faintest idea as to where the fire in this accident originated? Why do I ask? I ask because these trucks, believe it or not, have gas tanks that are haphazardly welded to the truck’s frame on the outside of the vehicle. Unlike passenger cars, where gas tanks are mounted inboard and surrounded by metal, tractor-trailer gas tanks are exposed to the wide open road, and any object that has the misfortune of finding the tank. Many times, in tractor-trailer accidents involving one or several vehicles, these gas tanks are punctured or crushed, often leading to explosions and fires. If the manufacturer of the truck elected to leave this gas tank as-is in the face of the tractor-trailer fire statistics, then the makers of the truck need to provide a good answer for why, or take responsibility for their mistake. Period. If Ford or GM decided to release a passenger van with the same kind of fire stats that commercial trucks have, then it would be front-page news. I think truck manufacturers need to be held to the same safety standards that passenger cars have, because in my eyes, truck drivers lives and health is just as important as everybody else on the road.
— Grossman Law Offices
