Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

What is it about truck accidents right now?

Yesterday or the day before (I lost track) there was a tractor-trailer that had crashed and spilled its load (of ... plastic drinking cups, was it?) in or not far from Baltimore, and a second tractor-trailer accident close enough that the helicopter cameraman was able to simply pan from one to the other to show both on the telly.

Last night(?) a propane tanker overturned.

This afternoon I retreated to my bed because I wasn't feeling great (didn't sleep enough last night), and saw helicopter coverage of an explosion. I thought it was the propane truck from before, and hoped that the other burning vehicles nearby had been part of the cleanup crew, and empty at the time. Then I caught the mention of the location: I95 and I195 ... just south of the city. Which meant it wasn't the propane truck north of town ...

It turns out a tanker truck (not sure yet whether it was a tractor-trailer or something smaller) fell off the I-195 ramp and landed on I-95, exploding and taking other trucks and some cars with it. And as there's been no medi-vac helicopters ferrying survivors from the scene ... ick. I'm not sure when it happened -- I think around 15:00 -- but some parts are still burning.

(Any of my readers needing to travel between Baltimore and Washington today, take note. 95 is closed in both directions and traffic on alternate routes is heavy. State highway officials are saying to stay put if you have a choice. I'm going to hope the Parkway isn't too much of a mess by the time I have to go to rehearsal. The television reporters are saying that I-95 will definitely be closed for hours and may be closed for days, between the cleanup and the investigation and the engineers making sure the roadway is still structurally sound. 895 is apparently affected as well, absorbing detour traffic.)

By the time I tuned in, the smoke plume had dissipated but was still discernable as a dark smudge between ground and clouds from my 3rd floor window.

Okay, four truck accidents in a couple of days, one of which was both tragic and huge. We started off the first few days of the new year with more than one house fire per day; now it's truck accidents. Please tell me the whole year isn't going to be like this.