A Saturday-morning Virginia truck accident on Interstate 64 outside of Newport News injured three people and caused traffic backups for several hours on November 17, 2012. The Virginia State Police are investigating the big-rig accident.
According to local news sources, a commercial truck not hauling a trailer was driving east on I-64 when a tire blowout caused the cab to veer out of its lane and into another vehicle traveling east. Both the bobtail truck cab and the car left the interstate and struck trees in the median.
Emergency crews worked to collect evidence at the site of the crash and remove the disabled vehicles from the road. A fuel spill complicated the clean-up. Authorities closed two lanes of I-64 east and one lane of I-64 west in the wake of the accident, and traffic formed for eight miles on the eastbound side and six miles on the westbound side.
Three people were injured in the truck accident: two occupants in the truck cab and one person in the car that was sideswiped. The driver of the truck was taken by medical helicopter to Norfolk Sentara Hospital. The passenger in the cab and the driver of the car that was struck were taken to Riverside Hospital.
Tire blowouts are a common cause of commercial truck accidents in Virginia. In these cases, it is important to investigate the cause of the blowout, the maintenance record of the vehicle, and whether other factors may have contributed to the accident.
The VA truck accident attorneys at Shapiro & Appleton& Duffan send their best wishes to the injury victims in this case for a fast and full recovery.