A rider's worst nightmare

[cactusjack]

A man was killed and two people were hospitalized Monday after a flatbed truck dropped several canisters of freon gas that exploded on Interstate 17 near Thomas Road.

Capt. Tony Mure, a Phoenix Fire Department spokesman, said the truck dropped part of its load, causing a motorcyclist to swerve in front of a semitruck before striking it. The semi-truck then struck a mini van carrying two adults and four children, ages 3 to 13, Mure said.

In the chaotic sequence, a gas canister also struck the semitruck, which became engulfed in flames.

The motorcyclist, a man in his 30s, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Carrick Cook.

The adults in the minivan were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The children and the driver of the semitruck were not harmed.

Video taken by a news helicopter showed that the flames were extinguished before 3:45 p.m. but that the semitruck had been scorched.

The driver of the truck that dropped the canisters was not at the scene when police arrived.


Be alert out there.

[waterman]

Wow. That is almost something out of the movies. RIP.

[rickyboy]

that kind of thing....you just don't want to hear.
Expect the unexpected.

[Loafer]

Man that must have been really scary before impact. R.I.P.

[cactusjack]

A little bit more info here, I-17 is the main N-S freeway through the valley. It runs from I-10 in downtown PHX to I-40 at Flagstaff. It is very heavily traveled and would have been fairly congested when this incident occurred. There's also virtually no shoulder as they added another lane several years ago and it is very tight in places.

I hope they find the driver of the truck that lost the freon cylinders that started this whole thing.

[dshelly]

It's sad that things like this happen due to people that just don't think. (driver that lost freon) I guess I ride more defensively. I'd like to think I wouldn't have been following an open truck like that. I make a point to observe other people on the road. You can usually pick out the ones who have no business driving or are potential hazards. But then I don't live in a busy city like that either.

[cnc]

What a terrible way to go, RIP.

[ringadingh]

That sounds like it was from a movie, hope they find the guy.

[glwilson]

I get so sick and tired of idiots in trucks that do not secure their loads. Around here crap is constantly falling off trucks - especially during the building boom when any idiot with a truck was a contractor.

The front of my car and another got hit by an air-gun falling off a contractor's truck. The other guy kept the gun.

The law should be harsh for crap falling off your truck. There is no reason for the BS.

[dank]

Originally Posted by glwilson

I get so sick and tired of idiots in trucks that do not secure their loads. .

I had to dodge a set of bed box springs that came out of the back of the truck in front of me. I confess I loved the agileness of the ST1300 that day.

[duffy]

Washington state has some of the toughest laws in the country dealing with un-secured loads for commercial drivers. That doesn't do much for the yahoo's with something just laying in the back of their pick-up and doing 60-70 down the freeway.

[rickyboy]

Originally Posted by duffy

Washington state has some of the toughest laws in the country dealing with un-secured loads for commercial drivers. That doesn't do much for the yahoo's with something just laying in the back of their pick-up and doing 60-70 down the freeway.

I was riding the I-5 south of the border with "midge" one day and was following a pickup truck. I could see something rising and then falling in the box of the truck. So I pulled out and got by the guy. "midge" didn't see the thing and before he could get out and follow me, a fairly heavy rubber mat [ looked to be one of those fatigue mats ] came up and out of the box and took off one of his mirrors, before narrowly missing my friends head. He had to duck...but he stayed upright. .......We pulled up beside this yahoo and tried to get him to pull over but I guess he was too scared and managed to give us the slip by taking an off ramp suddenly. I think he knew what had happened though.

[cactusjack]

I see it all the time, 5 gallon buckets of drywall mud, ladders, wheelbarrows, you name it. After I about got taken out by two lengths of wrought iron pool fence that came off a trailer, I am very careful who I follow.

[dank]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

I see it all the time, 5 gallon buckets of drywall mud, ladders, wheelbarrows, you name it. After I about got taken out by two lengths of wrought iron pool fence that came off a trailer, I am very careful who I follow.

Then you need to upgrade to a bike that is faster than Brad's!

[cactusjack]

Upgrade? Hahaha!