Investigators Working To Discover Cause Of Bridge Crash
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates there are approximately 400,000 police reported accidents involving heavy commercial trucks or 18-wheelers. Of these, approximately 18,000 of these are rollover crashes. There can be a variety of causes for a rollover crash of a big rig, from driver distraction, to road conditions or unbalanced loads.
According to a story which appeared on the Click2 Houston website, investigators with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department are trying to determine what may have caused a crash at approximately 3:45 p.m. Sunday afternoon in the westbound lanes of the East Freeway at the San Jacinto River Bridge.
The 18-wheeler caught fire and caused a significant traffic snag to both westbound and eastbound traffic. A Hazmat team was dispatched to the site. The wreckage and debris were not cleared away for a number of hours. Harris County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez, gave a statement at approximately 9:45 p.m. saying that the accident cleanup was taking longer than usual. ABC13 in Houston reported that a few hours later, Houston TranStar no longer listed the accident as a problem on the East Freeway.
So far no injuries were reported as a result of the accident and no further information has been released.