A horrible trucking accident in upstate New York killed one person and seriously injured the truck driver. The accident occurred in Brighton on Route 590, disrupting traffic for many hours. A second minor accident occurred while traffic was being rerouted.
The tanker truck was hauling animal waste. The victim was driving a smaller box truck. The driver f the box truck was killed at the scene. The tanker driver reportedly suffered a broken hip and other injuries.
State police are investigating. There were initial reports that the tanker truck fell from an Interstate 490 ramp, but the Brighton Fire Chief was unable to confirm this initially.
There were other uncertainties as investigators tried to reconstruct what happened in the trucking accident. Although some reports indicated that the driver was thrown from the wreckage, others believed that passersby pulled the driver from the truck. The box truck stopped in the median with the back of the truck in the air.
The contents of the tanker and the truck’s diesel fuel spread at least 1,000 feet and covered the northbound lane. The fire department quickly extinguished the fires caused by the spilled fuel, and the Department of Environmental Conservation sampled air quality to ensure that the animal waste was not contaminating the environment. The fuel was pumped off the road and the tanker emptied of its contents before the road reopened.
Source: Brighton Pittsford Post: “Update: Name of driver killed in fatal crash on 590 released,” Jul. 8, 2013.