There was a horrific accident that occurred here in Northwest Florida last Monday morning. The accident happened on Interstate 10 and involved a Hummer and four semitrailers. The positive – only three people suffered minor injuries. According to Northwest Florida Daily News, the accident occurred on a foggy stretch of I-10 at 5:08 a.m. in Walton County near mile marker 83.
A 40 year-old male from Fresno, California, was driving a semitrailer east in the right lane when he fell asleep and ran off the road. He woke up and swerved back onto the road, causing the semitrailer to flip, blocking the right eastbound lane. According to the FHP release, a Hummer driven by a male from Loxahatchee, Florida, approached in the right lane and swerved left at the last moment to avoid hitting the semitrailer but struck the undercarriage of the vehicle. Then, another semitrailer driven by a 61 male from Pinellas Park, Florida, was traveling in the left lane next to the Hummer and jackknifed into the guardrail in the median when it swerved to avoid a collision. Subsequently, a semitrailer driven by a Crestview male had slowed down in the left lane as it approached the accident but was struck from the rear by a fifth vehicle, a semitrailer driven by a male from Homestead, Florida. The driver who fell asleep was charged with careless driving. All of the vehicles and semitrailers had significant damage.
Truck braking capability can be a factor in truck crashes. Loaded tractor-trailers take 20-40 percent farther than cars to stop, and the discrepancy is greater on wet and slippery roads or with poorly maintained brakes. Truck driver fatigue also is a known crash risk. Drivers of large trucks are allowed by federal hours-of-service regulations to drive up to 11 hours at a stretch and up to 77 hours over a seven-day period. Surveys indicate that many drivers violate the regulations and work longer than permitted.
Read more about semitrailer accidents here: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/large-trucks/fatalityfacts/large-trucks/2013
