In the early morning dark hours of August 12, 1967 on Interstate Highway I-55 near Joliet, Illinois, in a dense fog, a related series of collisions involving eleven vehicles occurred. Fire in leaking flammable cargo following the third collision resulted in destruction of six vehicles and five fatalities by burning or by complications of burn injuries. There were 24 injuries and approximately $75,000 property damage. The fatalities occurred among a single family group traveling in two cars which were not involved in the collisions. They had stopped to render assistance and were properly parked. The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the drivers involved to restrict their speeds when operating in dense fog so as to permit a safe emergency stop. The catastrophic fire resulted when the improperly packaged cargo of highly flammable paint spilled from one of the vehicles was ignited, either by a flare in use at the accident site or by some other spark source on one of the impacting vehicles. (Author)
Motor Carrier Highway Accident Near Joliet, Illinois, August 12, 1967
1968
31 pages
Report
No indication
English
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