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.