Sept 28, 2009: Truck Spills

[xoxoxoBruce]

A gazillion trucks carry the stuff we need, and a lot of crap we don't need but will buy anyway, over the highways... night and day... 24/7.

And sometimes they drop things....

A trailer carrying 26 alligator carcasses to a processing plant overturned on a Fort Lauderdale highway (year unknown). The carcasses, which weighed about 10,000 pounds were put on a flatbed truck and taken to the processing plant.

A truck overturned near Salt Lake City in August, 2005. Other drivers went over to the truck to help and the crew got out OK. But the driver quickly shouted to the bystanders that his load was 35,000 lbs. of explosives, so everybody ran. About 3 minutes later, the truck exploded creating a 30-foot deep crater in the road, blasting chunks out of the canyon wall, setting brush fires, and damaging a Union Pacific rail line.

And here's one I actually saw personally, on the way to work.

On Valentine's Day, February 14, 2008, a container apparently fell off a tractor-trailer on I-95 on the ramp onto I-476. The container ripped open, spilling cookies on the ramp and onto I-476 below. Nobody was injured. Workers had to lower the container over the side onto the highway below because it was dangling over the edge. It took 5 hours to clean up the cookies, which were made in Honduras.

Lots more spills and chills.

[gvidas]

see also: The Gallery of Transport Loss

Focused more on maritime + aviation accidents. And with a less-than-current approach to website design. But there are some real golden photos in there.

[SPUCK]

I have corrected the statement.

The container ripped open, spilling cookies on to the ramp. Workers had to lower a container of milk over the side onto the highway below because the cookies had to be dunked. It took 5 hours to eat up the cookies, which were made in Honduras.

[chrisinhouston]

…and there's hamburger all over the highway in Mystic, Connecticut!

[ZenGum]

They can count themselves lucky those gators were already dead.

Years back, the main highway into Adelaide from the East snaked down through some hills where the trucks could burn out their brakes, then swung around a 180 degree hairpin turn officially named "The Devil's Elbow". The stuff that spilled there included a truckload of live cattle, a load of nails and scrap metal, and once, about 8,000 live chickens. No crocs, that I remember hearing about, though.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

A gazillion trucks carry the stuff we need, and a lot of crap we don't need but will buy anyway, over the highways... night and day... 27/7.
...

Those are some Loooong days!

[dar512]

Originally Posted by chrisinhouston

…and there's hamburger all over the highway in Mystic, Connecticut!

Intended for Mystic Pizza?

[dar512]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

They can count themselves lucky those gators were already dead.

Years back, the main highway into Adelaide from the East snaked down through some hills where the trucks could burn out their brakes, then swung around a 180 degree hairpin turn officially named "The Devil's Elbow". The stuff that spilled there included a truckload of live cattle, a load of nails and scrap metal, and once, about 8,000 live chickens. No crocs, that I remember hearing about, though.

And let's not forget the incident of 30,000 lbs of bananas.

/obscure

[birdclaw]

Get your motor running
Cookies on the highway
Looking for some skim milk
Or whatever comes my way!

[dar512]

Originally Posted by birdclaw

Get your motor running
Cookies on the highway
Looking for some skim milk
Or whatever comes my way!

The yuppie version:

Get your motor running
Cookies on the highway
Looking for some skim milk
Or a venti mocha latte!

[Sundae]

There's a mostly accepted urban legend about the brood of chickens that inhabit the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles. Snopes are certainly willing to accept that a poultry truck overturned near the Vineland Avenue exit, and the survivors formed a permanent colony.

Not a truck spill, but along the same lines of cargo lost in transit, our most recent opportunity for looting came from the sea rather than the road, from the MSC Napoli:

After containers from the wreck began washing up at Branscombe [Devon, South West England], around two hundred people went onto the beach to scavenge the flotsam, despite warnings from the police that those failing to notify the Receiver of Wreck of goods salvaged risked fines. Scavenged goods include several BMW R1200RT motorcycles, empty wine casks, nappies, perfume, and car parts. After initially tolerating a "salvage" free-for-all, by 23 January the police had branded the activity of scavengers "despicable", closed the beach, and announced that they would use powers not used for 100 years to force people to return goods they had salvaged without informing the authorities, pointing out that under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 such actions constituted an offence equivalent to theft.

Well, we don't really go for riots or hurricanes here, you've gotta take your chances when they occur! Think along the lines of Whisky Galore!

[jinx]

Or Doritos...

A cargo container that apparently fell from a ship washed up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Thursday and spilled thousands of bags of Doritos brand tortilla chips on the beach. People collected the chips, which were apparently still fresh due to their airtight packaging. It was unknown which ship had lost the cargo or to what port it was bound. Photo by Donna Barnett / special to The Virginian-Pilot

[newtimer]

Regarding the spilled cookies, how come they aren't surrounded by swarms of birds, rats, flies, and ants after sitting out there for so many hours?

I don't foresee that I'll be eating any Honduran phony cookies that nature's scavengers don't even recognize as real food.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Those are some Loooong days!

Phony truck logs.

Originally Posted by newtimer

Regarding the spilled cookies, how come they aren't surrounded by swarms of birds, rats, flies, and ants after sitting out there for so many hours?

February, and huge human presence.

[Tawny]

What do they use alligator carcasses for here?

Is that what "imitation crab meat" really is?