Company to be Fined for Part in Causing Crashes

Ducks · Aug 13, 2010

I'm staying away from concrete haulers for a while. My mother used to say, "What strikes twice, strikes thrice." I don't wanna be NEAR one of these guys!

By Brandie Kessler

Countless motorists were stuck sitting in traffic on Route 100 Monday after concrete improperly loaded onto a rig for transport fell free from the truck and landed in the road.

On Tuesday, motorists again were stuck, some of them sitting for more than 1½ hours, after concrete from the same company landed in the eastbound lanes of Route 422 when a truck transporting it overturned.

Representatives from Hanson Pipe & Precast, which owned the concrete being transported in both incidents, did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.

Police were able to explain just how the concrete ended up on the roadway.

"The company, the Hanson Company, will be getting a citation for permitting an unsafe load," said Trooper Lori B. Edgar, with the state police at Embreeville barracks. Edgar was the investigating officer in the incident Monday on Route 100 in South Coventry.

According to a press release compiled by Edgar and released by the Embreeville barracks Tuesday, Joshua David Walters, 32, of North Carolina, was transporting a 22-ton concrete barrier from Hanson Pipe & Precast in Pottstown. The company operates out of Pottstown's industrial park near Keim Street and Industrial Highway.

Offficials noted the trucking company transporting the concrete and Hanson Pipe & Precast are not one and the same.

According to the press release, "the load was not secured properly, resulting in the concrete falling off of the truck and blocking the northbound lane (of Route 100) for several hours," from shortly before 3 p.m. until after 7 p.m. Monday.

Walters, the driver of the truck, faces a traffic violation for the incident, but Trooper Edgar explained that Hanson Pipe & Precast was also responsible for its role in the incident.

"They permitted the load leaving their facility," Edgar said.

In the Tuesday incident, Lower Pottsgrove Township Police issued citations against Joseph Wooten, 30, of North Carolina, who was driving the truck transporting a Hanson Pipe & Precast concrete slab weighing more than 40,000 pounds. No citations against the Hanson company had been issued by Lower Pottsgrove police as of Thursday.

Police noted the investigation was still open.

Although police said it's the driver's responsibility to make sure his vehicle and the load he is carrying are secure, a witness of Tuesday's incident said the driver didn't do anything wrong.

"All I saw him (the truck driver) do was we were letting him in and the load shifted," said the witness, who asked her name not be used.

"He was just right in front of us. He wasn't speeding. There was nothing he did that was careless.

"The load looked like it shifted, and the truck then fell," the witness said.

Trooper Edgar explained witnesses reported the truck in the Route 100 incident nearly rolled over "because the cargo was all on one side" of the truck, but the straps used to secure the concrete load broke, freeing the concrete before the weight of it caused the truck to overturn.

Edgar said the citation Hanson Pipe & Precast would be receiving, which she filed Thursday, is for not following the section of the vehicle code that indicates a commercial vehicle transporting cargo must be loaded and equipped so it does not shift in transport.

She said the company would be fined.
Click to expand...

Source:http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2010/08/13/news/srv0000009083669.txt

Giggles the Original · Aug 14, 2010

but if he didnt secure his load properly...that is careless...thank goodness no one got hurt....

shriner75 · Aug 14, 2010

Minnesota just had an incident just like that where a cinder block fell off a truck, bounced and went through a window killing a teenager. The driver supposedly had a recent violation also for not securing his load as well.

atrashman · Sep 12, 2010

used to haul out hanson alwalys wanted a cheaper rate you get what you pay for

hotrod1653 · Sep 14, 2010

Can anyone say chains instead of straps? Lucky for them no one was hurt.

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