By Tricia Pursell
The Daily Item
SELINSGROVE —
Two separate tractor-trailer rollovers occurred within an hour of each other Monday in Snyder County, closing two major routes and sending both drivers to the hospital.
Dennis Winand Jr., 63, of Abbottstown, was seriously injured and taken by helicopter to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, after his rig, pulling a trailer full of live turkeys, overturned on Route 104, south of Mount Pleasant Mills, at 5:27 a.m.
State police at Selinsgrove said the trailer flipped onto its side as the driver tried to negotiate a left turn a half-mile south of Troup Valley Road in Perry Township.
Two unoccupied cars — a Toyota Tacoma and Toyota 4Runner — were parked along Route 104, and Winand struck both of them, causing damage to their front bumper and hood areas. His truck continued south and slid into a guide rail and utility pole.
The Freightliner and trailer were towed from the scene.
Assisting were Selinsgrove and Middleburg emergency medical services and Fremont and Middleburg fire companies.
Turkeys still at large
According to Derick Shambach, Snyder County Emergency Management Agency coordinator, the road remained closed Monday afternoon because crews still were trying to catch the turkeys.
Another Freightliner rolled Spring Township, a mile south of Route 522, the same place a fuel truck flipped and caught fire on May 10, badly burning the driver, Timothy Bussard, 34, of Manchester, Md.
According to Shambach, hazardous- materials crews still are working to clean up that site, where explosive fuel leaked out of the truck and into a nearby stream. The road was closed for days after the May 10 crash, and it was closed again into Monday afternoon after this most recent accident, which involved a truck hauling lumber down Shade Mountain.
Driver cited in crash
The driver, Franz Desrouleax, 53, of Yeadon, was wearing a seat belt and suffered a minor injury. He was cited with driving too fast for conditions, police said.
The truck, according to Erik Markley, Beaver Springs fire chief, was coming from the docks in Philadelphia and headed to Remmey Pallets in Spring Township. The lumber was in a cargo shipping container, and all the contents had to be removed by the wrecking company before the rig could be moved from the scene.
About 30 emergency personnel from Beaver Springs, Beavertown and Mifflinburg, in addition to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, were at the scene for about two hours.
Markley said this is the fourth truck accident he has seen, each happening within 20 yards of the other.
Safety study planned
Because two major crashes involving rigs happened within a short period of time Monday, “It raises an alarm for us,” said PennDOT spokesman Rick Mason. PennDOT will perform a safety study, which will look at the geometry of the road, traffic volumes, crash history and existing signs.
“We’ll see if there’s anything that we, as a transportation agency, can do to improve things there,” Mason said.
Mike Hess, safety press officer for PennDOT, encourages drivers to stay alert, take a break and to watch and obey speed limit and curve warning signs, especially on rural roads.
Eighty percent to 90 percent of all crashes involve human error, PennDOT reports, including mistakes, miscalculations and poor judgment.
Pay attention
“You have to be very attentive all the time,” said Ed Ferguson, field safety manager and driver recruiter for Watsontown Trucking Co. “You can’t be tired. You have to watch everybody, all the time.”
His company is strict on how many hours a driver can operate a rig at one time, he said.
Though truckers don’t typically like to drive on rural roads, especially in areas that are unfamiliar, sometimes it’s a necessity, Ferguson said. The key is to be extra careful.
It also is important to remember that a fully-loaded trailer, carrying 80,000 pounds and traveling 68 mph, takes a full 10 seconds to stop — in dry road conditions. A car takes about 3 seconds, Ferguson said.
The amount of training required for truck drivers continues to grow, he added.
PennDOT reports that in 20 09, heavy truck-related crashes numbered 11 in Montour County; 18 in Snyder; 24 in Northumberland, with one fatality; and 26 in Union, with one fatality.
■ E-mail comments to tpursell@dailyitem.com.
