Posted: Sep 22, 2011 7:20 AM by Katy Harris (KAJ News)
Updated: Sep 22, 2011 8:57 AM
BIGFORK- A logging truck driver was cited after losing his trailer Wednesday on Montana Highway 35 and causing a crash that blocked a good portion of the road.
A witness says that a semi truck carrying a trailer of logs didn't make the turn and the back half of the trailer fell out from underneath as it was going right off Montana Highway 83 onto Highway 35 headed north.
The Montana Highway Patrol believes a bolt holding the metal frame to keep the logs intact was sheared off as the truck was turning and some of the logs then rolled off the trailer.
A driver of saw what was happening and hit the gas to pull forward and miss the logs rolling off, but the back end of his truck was still hit in the incident.
Meanwhile, another truck attempted to move out of the way, but the ends of the logs sitting in the trailer of the semi smacked the driver's side front end.
Both drivers of the trucks and the driver of the semi truck were not hurt in the wreck and the MHP says everyone is lucky they weren't hurt and add that a mechanical malfunction is to blame for the mishap.
"Just make sure that you do your annual inspections on your commercial motor vehicles, making sure that your equipments functional," MHP Trooper Jerril Ren advised.
A commercial motor vehicle safety inspector will look over the trailer and the sheared off bolts that MHP believes caused the wreck. The driver of the semi was issued a citation for failure to secure the load of logs while driving a commercial motor vehicle.
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