Semi drivers have an incredibly difficult job. Most drivers can’t even operate a car competently, let alone a big-rig carrying hundreds of thousands of pounds of cargo. It’s one of the reasons why Tesla and others want to automate them. That, however, doesn’t preclude them from finding themselves in the position where everything that could go wrong, does. For instance, when another semi comes barreling directly toward you on the wrong side of a four-lane highway.
The video uploaded to Twitter by @TruckDriversUSA shows what looks to be an average semi truck-on-semi truck pass—a routine scene on any of the U.S.’s thousands of highways. However, things take a hellish turn as once the semi truck passes the other, a third semi truck careening down the wrong way of the highway slams into the passing semi truck.
Based on our multiple rewinds, frozen frames, and armchair experting, it looks as if the semi going the wrong way down the highway had crossed over the grassy median separating the lanes ahead of the two other semi trucks moving along the road. As the semi driver attempts to regain control, the two semi trucks collide and nearly sheer off the entirety of the driver’s side of the semi truck’s trailer. Luckily, the semi ahead of the dash cam-outfitted semi was able to take evasive action and let the trailer portion take the brunt of the impact. That semi-on-trailer impact, however, hit hard enough that the rear wheels of the big-rig actually popped into the air just before the wrecked semi truck came to a jackknifed halt.
A version of the video uploaded to YouTube states, “Truck driver was driving in [the] right lane [when the] other truck [passed] him [on the] left. Another truck from [the] other side of freeway came [across] and had [a] head-on collision.” We researched the accident and found out that the collision happened on the I-75 just outside of Sidney, Ohio. Left out of the uploaded videos were three passenger cars involved in the crash. Additionally, according to WDTN Channel 2 News, “One of the semis caught fire and the other semi overturned in the crash.” The reporting doesn’t reveal the cause of the collision.
The crash occurred on April 29 around 2:45 pm and WDTN further stated that “one person was taken by CareFlight to Miami Valley Hospital,” but that the person injured is expected to make a full recovery. That’s a hell of a wreck to walk away from with your life.