Driving on the highways in Baton Rouge with other motorists is dangerous enough. Too many drivers today fail to give their full attention to the road and the traffic around them, being busy texting or taking care of other tasks unrelated to driving. Collisions between passenger cars can certainly be deadly. When the size and weight of the vehicle is multiplied many times, as in the case involving a semi accident, the resulting crash is even more likely to lead to catastrophic injuries.
In semi truck accidents there is also the factor of the load of cargo being pulled by the truck. The same highways that we use for transporting our families to school or work also serve as the conduit for massive amounts of cargo, sometimes including hazardous material or even just cargo that is big and heavy enough to cause serious damage if it becomes unsecured.
This scenario played out earlier this week in a truck crash that led to a seven-car pile-up. In a construction zone on Interstate 12 near the O'Neal exit, the driver of an 18- wheeler apparently failed to slow down and pay proper attention to his surroundings in the zone. A Channel 33 News commentator says that the driver failed to stay in the proper lane and then lost control of his big rig and crashed into a cement barricade.
The semi that crashed into the concrete barricade was hauling a load of pipes. The force of the collision knocked those pipes off the trailer, causing them to spill into the lanes of oncoming traffic. The crash resulted in a chain reaction accident involving seven separate vehicles. Six people were injured, including the truck driver, but none of the injuries were described as life threatening.
Source: Channel 33 News "18-wheeler causes 7 car crash, major delays," David A'Quin, Dec. 13, 2011
