Personal Injury Law

Kansas City Police Blame Speed on Trucking Accident That Spilled Acid on Highway

By Jeffrey Lowe

Our Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyers noted a particularly dangerous accident that happened in Kansas City just after the Thanksgiving long weekend. The Kansas City Star reported Nov. 30 that a tanker truck crashed on Interstate 35 at 7 a.m. that day, causing a rollover and a spill of its contents -- hydrochloric acid. The newspaper said the crash spilled up to 400 gallons of acid across the highway?s Paseo Bridge construction site, causing a toxic hazard that closed the road in both directions and put a nearby business on lockdown. At least 11 people reportedly went to the hospital, although no serious injuries were reported.

According to the Star, police said the driver of the truck was probably going too fast for the stretch of highway, which is part of a construction zone. The truck hit a concrete barrier and overturned, spilling acid from its tank. Hydrochloric acid has many uses in industrial processing, but corrodes human tissue and can produce toxic gas when mixed with common substances like bleach. To control this danger, the city threw down sand and dirt to stop the spreading puddle, following up with a special truck to siphon it away. It also had to call in a special road crew to repair holes the acid had eaten into the highway. The nearly Isle of Capri casino closed down its climate-control system and went on lockdown to minimize the risk of injury to staff and customers. Nonetheless, eleven people went to hospitals complaining of eye, nose and throat irritation, including the truck?s driver, two police officers and a construction worker.

As a St. Louis tanker truck accident attorney, I?m grateful that the damage was not worse. The federal government considers hydrochloric acid a toxic substance. Direct contact with human skin causes chemical burns that can lead to permanent damage if the exposure is strong enough. Contact with the fumes is even more dangerous, leading to death, circulation problems or permanent organ damage in high concentrations; or burning eyes, nose and throat in lesser concentrations. If the spill had gone differently, or the city had not been able to respond so quickly, everyone in the area would have been at risk for these serious injuries. And because law enforcement suspects that speed was the cause of the crash, the trucker -- and probably his trucking company -- would have been held responsible for those injuries.

Full post as published by Trucking Accident Attorney Blog on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).