Anyone who drives on the highways in Orange County knows that traffic can be miserable. At any given time, it can take a person much longer than expected to drive just a few miles. The reasons for traffic delays seem endless, but accidents are a common cause. Accidents involving trucks can be especially problematic, and can cause traffic backups for hours at a time.
An accident on a recent weekday morning involving a semi truck caused authorities to close the Gerald Desmond Bridge for hours. After the truck collided with at least two other vehicles, officers had to close all eastbound lanes of traffic. Although they opened one lane after about 90 minutes, the other lane was not open until later in the day.
In addition to the dangers of the collision itself, responding firefighters found that one of the vehicles was leaking fuel. Roughly 30 minutes after the crash, the firefighters were able to contain the leak, though they did report to the U.S. Coast Guard that some fuel had leaked into storm drains.
Despite the heavy traffic and immense time delays that this accident caused, all of the people involved escaped without any serious injuries. Officers did not immediately report the cause of the accident and their investigation continues.
Truck accidents like this that involve tractor trailers and other vehicles can easily cause major traffic nightmares for other drivers on the road. But, these kinds of accidents can also cause horrific injuries and major property damage.
Although large vehicles like semi trucks are an essential component of California’s economy, they come at a great cost when negligence on the part of the truck driver or his or her employer leads to an accident. In this accident, nobody suffered injuries, but in too many other truck accidents, that is not the case.
Source: Press Telegram, “Accident blocks eastbound lanes on Gerald Desmond Bridge for hours,” Greg Yee, Sept. 8, 2015