Truck accident in Illinois causes “multiple” deaths and an ammonia leak that leads to an evacuation

Harsh reality, as long as these hazardous materials are moved with the mainstream of traffic, and relied upon human beings, this will continue to happen. All these "nasties", I never understood why they weren't contained better, and shipped by a different method. For the record, these hazardous shipments have a stellar record, its just when they go, it impacts a lot of people. A MAJOR tip of the hat to our "suicide jockies",,,ironically, WE couldn't live without them.

 

The I-70 corridor area east of Effingham has become a wreck magnet this year. I grew up in that area and it amazes me after having driven through the area hundreds if not thousands of times in my life how easy the road is to drive yet how many people have these horrible wrecks which is becoming a very regular thing to see unfortunately.

 

Bad thing is with the construction on 70 between Effingham and Marshall, 40 is pretty busy now (and at the time traffic was being diverted to 40 because of a wreck on 70). If I have to go that way during the day I usually run 40 to avoid the nonsense. I suspect trucks running that way will be under extra scrutiny for the next little bit.

 

This news clip shows a couple photo of where the wreck was , besides a farm there is no cross street so I'm guessing the wreck was caused by someone passing when they shouldn't have...

https://www.wcia.com/top-stories/ammonia-leak-forces-evacuation-closes-route-40-in-effingham-county/

 

Geez.
I bet after this they’ll probably try to prohibit hazmat loads from deviating onto 40 now.

 

I’m still curious what all happened because very rarely do you hear about a bottle leaking like that. For the most part those things are pretty solid.

 

From the article above:
"At 8:40 p.m. on Friday, the tanker was driving westbound on Route 40 near Teutopolis when another vehicle may have tried to pass the tanker, which caused the driver to swerve to the right and the truck ran off the road.

"The truck subsequently rolled over and jackknifed, exposing the front of the tank. Chapman added that momentum carried the tank toward a small utility trailer that was parked illegally near the side of the road. The front of the tank hit the utility trailer’s hitch, which tore a six-inch-diameter hole into the tank."

 

That link I posted was updated, initially it didn't have all of this new information or any details on wreck.

 

What was that hitch made of ?
Those tanks are designed to withstand considerable force

 

Link from NTSB briefing.
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