Driving Death

An update on the spill:

It has been verified that the substance is organic peroxide. That carries a risk of serious breathing problems, skin damage if touched, and an increased fire hazard since it is an oxidizer. The evacuation and stopped traffic will continue until at least 10:00 PM tonight, with a small possibility of reopening by midnight "if everything goes smoothly." Apparently no one has entered the box trailer yet to assess damage in there, so that deadline can be moved out indefinitely at this point.

No word yet on the age, citizenship, or experience of the driver.

I spoke with a long-time friend earlier. One of his co-workers lives in Rainsville and he was not able to return home tonight; his home is in the evacuation area.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: beyondknowledge
a reply to: putnam6



And about the paroxide, if it is strong, it can literally dissolve human flesh. They had that problem with the Me 163 Komet in WW2.

Fortunately for this town, peroxide will break down to water. Super dangerous now but won't leave residual chemicals. It could have been much worse, like nuclear waste or other hazardous material.

a reply to: watchitburn

I've definitely seen an increase of aggressive and unsafe truck drivers over the last year or so.

I don't know anyone who hasn't seen that. I actually give trucks a wider berth now than I did before... before, I had confidence in the drivers (unless it said "Swift" on the side) and gave them plenty of room to do what they had to do. Now I have much less confidence in the drivers so I give them room to screw up.

I even saw trucks pulling 3 full sized trailers for the first time last year.

I think there's only a handful of states that allow those "road trains." That's another consequence of the manufactured driver shortage. Three loads: one driver.

"Wiggle wagons" (the ones who pull two or sometimes three "pup" trailers) are notoriously unsteady... multiple trailers is actually a separate endorsement on the CDL (which I never got because I didn't want to play that game) because of the danger. Just driving straight down the road, watch them sometimes... that last trailer will wiggle back and forth, hence the name. They are notoriously easy to flip and backing up is a major feat with two trailers... impossible for three trailers. They will jackknife every time. Think of trying to push a chain. It's like that.

Road trains are the most dangerous vehicles you can meet on the road. I have never met an experienced driver who will drive one. I'd bet good money the ones you saw were piloted by kids with acne and no idea what they were doing.

TheRedneck

a reply to: igloo

Here's something to think about, though: that driver had a haz-mat endorsement (if not, that company will never pull another load). There is no difference between a haz-mat endorsement for a 5.2 oxidizer (this load) and for high explosives or radioactive waste. It's the exact same endorsement. The only difference the DOT recognizes is the placards that are required.

So it could have been this driver puling enriched uranium or a box full of TNT. If they are legal to pull peroxide, they are legal to pull all haz-mat.

TheRedneck

I wonder if they know they have to keep spraying water on it but not enough to cause it to spread?

The peroxide evaporates slower than the water with it so the concentration increases as it looks like it is drying up. This increases the possibility of spontaneous fire. You have to keep adding water until it reacts away.

It is very fortunate that it is not toxic long term.