dump truck

Ever since I was a sophomore in high school, after a bad car accident, I have been a nervous passenger in cars. If the person I'm riding with isn't slowing down and leaving a space between our car and the vehicle in front of us, I'm grabbing the drivers arm and making absurd noises come out my mouth. So imagine my fear today as we were cruising along at 65-75 mph and I see the car in front of us come to a stop!

I grabbed my husband's arm and squeezed so hard the tips of my fingers hurt. Then when I realized we were not going to hit the car in front of us, my eyes turn to the side mirror where I'm watching the car and semi-truck behind us. I'm fearing they won't stop in time and they will plow into the back of our car. Thankfully that didn't happen.

Traffic came to a complete stand still. We were right in front of a bridge on the Interstate and there were cement barricades near by and there we sat. My husband could see what looked like a semi-truck in the ditch, but wasn't for sure. We sat and waited, but it wasn't long before people started getting out on the Interstate and started walking forward to see what happened. That's when we could see there had been an accident about 15 cars in front of us.

My husband stayed in the ditch and watched for emergency vehicles while I sat in the car with the kids. They really wanted to get out and look, but I wouldn't let them. Getting out on the Interstate was not safe for kids. About 10 minutes later, a Highway Patrol came along. My husband directed a car out of the line into the construction side and then directed the HP to come through around the other car. Good thing someone took a leadership role, otherwise the HP wouldn't have gotten through without other means.

Traffic got moving after about 20 minutes of sitting still. As soon as we came over the bridge, I seen wheels and they weren't on the ground, but rather, were facing me. That's when Mike said, "That's a dump truck on it's side." And that it was. Not only was the dump truck on it's side, but it's load of asphalt was all over the Interstate. It was a huge mess! I snapped this picture with my phone.

I watched the 5 and 6pm news, but neither station had anything on it. We're thinking based on the looks of things that he hit the cement barricades, got on the shoulder and then over corrected to the right, which caused him to over correct to the left and he tipped, spilling his load. But that is just a guess. I just hope the driver is ok. We did meet the ambulance as we drove by.