According to KSDK, Southbound I-55 in Macoupin County Illinois was shut down for several hours following an accident on the roadway. Early this morning, a tractor trailer semi-truck ran off I-55 and flipped onto its side. Michael Trudell of Rhode Island saw the overturned semi-truck and left the safety of his own vehicle, not involved in the crash, to assist the truck driver. At the same time, another semi-truck came down I-55 and struck the overturned trailer which was pushed into Mr. Trudell. Thankfully, Mr. Trudell, while hospitalized, is not suffering from life threatening injuries. The overturned trailer caused tons of frozen pork to be strewn across the roadway, the major cause of the highway shutdown.
We handle tractor trailer and semi-truck accident cases on a daily basis. Typically, such cases involve an accident between a tractor trailer truck and a vehicle. This story reports on a rare occurrence but obviously a very serious one. Likely, the driver of the second semi-truck was not keeping a proper lookout – a major cause of tractor trailer accidents.