The Top 5 Trucking Fails

How many times have you been driving on the interstate only to find yourself driving alongside a larger truck, inciting that panic on your throat? You know you do it – just like everyone else – and either slow down to get behind the road-hogging behemoth or speed up to get ahead of it.

You may be doing this with good reason, as we’ve taken the time to compile a list of the Top 5 Trucking Fails, a run-down of some of the biggest “fails” we can find involving large trucks. If ever you needed a reason to let the professionals transport your car for you during a cross-country move or during your next big trip, these fails are representative of why you don’t want to find yourself on the roads if you don’t have to.

Fail #1 -- Alligator Alley: A number of years back, a semi-truck traveling alongside a Fort Lauderdale highway overturned. This happens every day, so it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, except for this truck was carrying quite a nature-laden load. This load consisted of 26 alligator carcasses on their way to a processing facility. The bodies weighed roughly 10,000 pounds and were scattered along the road for several hours until clean-up was complete. Talk about a reason to rubberneck while traveling past an accident.

Fail #2 – Precious Cargo: Truckers are known for being careful with the cargo they are transporting. However, in Colombia in 2007, one driver staked his very freedom on his care with his cargo and didn’t quite so well in his task. His truck overturned and unfortunately for him, it was chock full of cocaine, carefully concealed in the lining of the walls and the roof. When the truck came apart during the accident, so did the drugs, leading to the truck driver’s subsequent arrest. Hit yourself on the forehead and say “Doh” kind of fail.

Fail #3 – Red Tide: Talk about painting the town red; one trucker did just that on a stretch of I-495 just outside of Boston in 2007. His rig spilled out red dye along about 1,500 feet of highway. By the way, workers were able to re-open the roads, the dye had dried and the road was red. The driver wasn’t charged, and drivers got to enjoy weeks of driving a bright red road.

Fail #4 – Address Update: Talk about updating your address. In 2008, a modular home being delivered via flatbed truck to its new destination was upended by the crane helping to hold it in place. It ended up in the middle of the highway, giving new meaning to the phrase “pick up and move.”

Fail #5 --- Bottoms Up: In 2009, a trucker gave new meaning to the term “Last Call,” as his rig overturned spilling out its entire contents of Taaka vodka onto I-10 coming into New Orleans. As the natives would say, “Laissez les bon temps roules” (Let the good times roll)!

Images are taken from TruckSpills.com.