Truck Accidents 360 Newswire

FAIRVIEW SHORES, FL – A UPS semi trailer truck crashed and burst into flames early Friday morning, August 27, on a highway in Orange County, Florida. Two people were injured in the truck accident that occurred on Interstate 4 in Fairview Shores just north of the city of Orlando. The accident area is in the central east section of the state about 90 miles northeast of Tampa, FL and about 137 miles south of Jacksonville, FL.

At around 2:00 a.m. Friday morning 39 year old Craig T. Roy from the Jacksonville area was driving a semi trailer truck west on Interstate 4 through Orange County, FL. One unidentified passenger rode along in the cab of the semi. The semi truck belonged to UPS and was pulling two trailers loaded with a full cargo of mail parcels and shipping packages. The corporate offices for UPS (United Parcel Services) are in Atlanta, Georgia.

The UPS tractor trailer was traveling in one of the center lanes of the interstate near the city of Fairview Shores when the driver suddenly lost control of the 18 wheeler in the area between Lee Road and Princeton Street. According to police, the truck driver Mr. Roy told them he was experiencing some kind of mechanical failure that caused him to lose control of the truck.

The UPS tandem trailer jackknifed and slammed into the highway median. The trailer truck hit a Ford Edge SUV driven by Michael Shaver and dragged the SUV along the wall of the interstate before finally coming to a rest. The semi cab of the truck then burst into flames. The SUV was almost completely destroyed in the crash.

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Several passing drivers including a doctor saw the truck accident and stopped to help the victims. Mr. Roy and his passenger were able to crawl out of the burning cab of the semi truck and escape serious injuries. The driver of the Ford SUV, Mr. Shaver, crawled through the back window of his vehicle.

The doctor who stopped was surprised that the three people sustained only minor injuries in the truck accident. Emergency personnel treated and stabilized Mr. Shaver and the passenger in the semi and then transported them to a nearby hospital. The semi driver did not require hospitalization.

The impact of the truck accident damaged at least one fuel tank and about 75 gallons of diesel fuel spilled out onto the interstate, feeding the flames of the truck fire. Local firefighters were soon at the scene and battled the flames.

The force of the truck accident also broke open the UPS trailers and mail packages were strewn all over the highway.

Florida Highway Patrol shut down the westbound lanes of I-4 at Fairbanks Avenue while the EMTs and firefighters worked. Highway crews were brought to the truck accident site to get the wreckage of the UPS trailer truck and Ford Edge SUV off the roadway. Others teams worked to clear the parcels and packages out of the traffic lanes and a Haz-mat crew cleaned up the remains of the spilled diesel fuel.

It would take about five hours to clean up the truck accident scene, causing major delays for the Friday morning commute.

Authorities conducted a reconstruction of the truck accident to determine the cause of the fiery crash. The Florida State Commercial Trucking Investigation Unit is expected to complete a full inspection of the UPS trailer truck since the truck driver claimed mechanical problems led to the crash.

No charges have been brought at this time and the truck accident remains under investigation.

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