National Transportation Safety Board Highway Accident Report: Propane TruckCollision with Bridge Column and Fire, White Plains, New York, July 27, 1994

摘要

On July 27, 1994, a tractor cargo-tank semitrailer loaded with 9,200 gallons ofpropane (a liquefied petroleum gas) and traveling east on Interstate 287 in White Plains, New York, drifted across the left lane onto the left shoulder and struck the guardrail. The tank hit a column of the Grant Avenue overpass. The tractor and the semitrailer separated, and the front head of the tank fractured, releasing the propane, which vaporized into gas and ignited. The tank was propelled northward about 300 feet, landing on a frame house and engulfing it in flames. The driver was killed, 23 people were injured, and an area with a radius of approximately 400 feet was engulfed by fire. The safety issues discussed in the report are truckdrive fatigue, carrier's oversight of the driver's work/rest cycles, countermeasures for single-vehicle roadway departures, compatibility of highway design and the operating characteristics of heavy vehicles and bridge vulnerability, and cargo tank integrity.