Tuesday, February 10, 2015

SO MANY MILK TRAILER TRUCKS ROLLING OVER IN WINTER WEATHER DUE TO THE SHIFTING MILK LOAD BECAUSE OF SLOSHING, ABRUPT MANEUVERS, SUDDEN TURNS, ETC: MILK TRUCK CRASH SHUTS DOWN ROUTE 22 IN CT



 

SO MANY MILK TRAILER TRUCKS ROLLING OVER IN WINTER WEATHER DUE TO THE SHIFTING MILK LOAD BECAUSE OF SLOSHING, ABRUPT MANEUVERS, SUDDEN TURNS, ETC: MILK TRUCK CRASH SHUTS DOWN ROUTE 22 IN NY

February 9, 2015

COPAKE, NY- A tractor-trailer carrying fresh milk from a county farm overturned Monday, forcing county officials to shut down Route 22 in Copake for several hours.

The milk tanker overturned at about 1:30 p.m. on Route 22 at the intersection of North Mountain Road.

The 1999 Mack truck and milk tanker trailer was being driven westbound by Lynn L. Thompson, 51, of Roxbury Connecticut, downhill on North Mountain Road when the tractor-trailer began to slide on the snow-covered roadway. As the driver approached the intersection, he tried to turn the truck right on Route 22 but the rear trailer tires went into a culvert ditch causing the tractor-trailer to overturn. The vehicle blocked the north and southbound lanes, and Thompson was not injured.

The tractor-trailer is registered to A.J.P. Trucking Inc. of Roxbury, Connecticut, and the tanker was full with milk from Main Farm in Copake, said Columbia County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Wayne Lopez.

“The tanker was completely filled with milk, and at around 2 p.m. we estimated about 20 gallons had spilled,” Lopez said.

The accident caused the tanker to begin leaking milk. The trucking company sent another tanker to the scene,

“They are waiting to get the milk into the other tanker before they tow it,” Lopez said.

Lopez said he anticipated Route 22 was expected to open up by about 6 p.m. Monday. The accident remained under investigation Monday evening.
The Hillsdale Fire Department, Copake Fire Department, state Department of Transportation, and state Department of Environmental Conservation assisted at the scene.

Milk tanker accidents are not uncommon in Columbia County. On Jan. 3, a tractor-trailer full of milk overturned on snowy roads and rolled onto its roof on Route 10 in Taghkanic. After rolling over, the truck was then struck by an SUV. The truck driver was unharmed and the SUV driver and passengers suffered minor injuries that did not require medical attention. The tanker lost several thousand gallons of milk.

In February 2014, a tractor-trailer hauling milk rolled over on Route 66 in Ghent, causing the road to be closed for several hours. The trailer was nearly full of milk and had to be pumped out before the truck could be righted and towed.

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Tanker Truck Accidents

Tanker trucks carry liquid cargo and a large percentage of them carry flammable liquids or other hazardous materials. Any kind of liquid load presents some unique accident risks. Flammable liquids can cause explosions and fires. These fires can burn so hot that they destroy bridges and overpasses quickly enough to cause even more accidents.

Sloshing Liquid
Liquid loads behave very differently to dry loads. When the liquid starts to slosh in the tank it causes huge weight shifts. It builds momentum and does not settle down quickly or easily.

When a tanker truck is filled to less than three-quarters of its tank’s capacity it gives the liquid room to move and slosh more. The weigh shifts make the truck unstable, affect the way it handles. Sloshing can be severe enough to make the truck go out of control and even cause a rollover.

Liquid Weight
When tanker truck is under loaded by volume it creates a sloshing risk, but overloading with weight can be just as dangerous. Different types of liquids have different densities, and therefore different weights. Some liquid cargo is denser than water and therefore heavier by volume. If the weight of the load is calculated by volume based on the same calculations used for water, the truck can easily be carrying too much weight even if it is not filled to capacity.
Too much weight can cause brake failure, a tire blowout, and problems with handling.

Flammable and Hazardous Liquids
Some tanker trucks carry benign liquids such as water or milk. Any liquid spill can complicate an accident scene and make accidents worse, but a flammable or hazardous liquid, such as gasoline, can turn a truck accident into a major fire, explosion, or release toxic chemicals that injure accident victims more than the underlying accident and even hurt bystanders destroy property and cause evacuations.

Wetlines
Wetlines are pipes running under the tank of a tanker truck that are used for filling and emptying the tank. As a safety feature, they are designed to break away from the tank if they are struck or make impact with an object. The breakaway helps prevent damage to the tank itself and a larger spill. However, when these lines are full of gasoline or a flammable liquid, the spill just from the wetlines can still cause a massive fir and severe burn injuries or death.