APRIL 3, 2015
FLOMATON, ALABAMA
One person was killed and several others were injured in a
fiery multi-vehicle crash on I-65 near Flomaton that first responders described
as nothing less than horrific.
The accident involved three northbound 18-wheelers and six
passenger vehicles at the 69 mile marker, with two of the 18-wheelers catching
fire and burning into an almost unrecognizable pile of mangled metal. The
female driver of a passenger car died in a vehicle that was nearly totally
destroyed before catching fire in the crash.
One 18-wheeler was hauling lumber, one was hauling salt, and
the cargo of the third, while not hazardous, was not known.
“It was the worst accident I’ve seen in 38 years of being a
firefighter,” Flomaton Fire Department Chief Steve Stanton said from the scene.
Stanton said no less than 15 fire departments from Alabama
and Florida responded to the crash, including departments from Century and
McDavid.
Multiple ambulances from both states and three helicopters were used
to transport the victims to hospitals. Officials were not immediately sure how
many people were injured, but state troopers said they believed it to be around
five.
I-65 was closed between Flomaton and Atmore for hours, with
traffic diverted through Atmore and Flomaton along Highway 31. Traffic backed
up for miles and miles in both directions, often at a complete standstill.
Alabama State Troopers are continuing their investigation.
Names and details on how the crash happened have not yet been released.
Source: http://www.northescambia.com
Source: http://www.northescambia.com
http://metroforensics.blogspot.com/2015/03/united-states-still-has-one-of-highest.html
UNITED STATES STILL HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST ROAD ACCIDENT DEATH AND INJURY RATES IN THE WORLD: 34,000 DIE AND 2.5 MILLION INJURED EACH YEAR.
Despite the improvements in road safety, the United States has one of the highest death rates at about 1 person dead per 10,000 people. Unfortunately, only undeveloped countries have higher death rate.
Some states, such as Texas and West Virginia (sorry, WV, despite your tremendous progress in traffic safety, you are still at the top of the worst-death-rate list) have death rates of nearly 1.5 percent, i.e., fifty percent more people die compared to the national death rate.
Approximately 34,000 people are getting killed each year. In the 1950s and 1960s, about 55,000 people used to die on the roads – so, there has been improvement in the number of dead.
However, the number of injured is rising. Roughly 2.5 million are injured (yes, you read it correctly – 2.5 million injured) per year. That is, 1 percent (1%) of the population that is eligible to drive is injured every year.
It is worse than a war zone out there.
So, please be safe and be on the lookout for weaving-through-the-traffic drivers, crazy drivers, reckless drivers, sick drivers, medical-condition drivers, sleepy drivers, negligent drivers, stupid drivers, careless drivers, drunk drivers, speeding drivers, drugged drivers, texting drivers, talking-on-the-phone drivers, looking-at-the-GPS drivers, hurry-hurry drivers, tailgating drivers, upset drivers, eating-while-driving drivers, putting-the-lipstick-on-while-driving drivers, elderly drivers, and so on.
