Driver of tanker truck carrying gas prevents worse outcome in Mount Baker Highway crash
Mount Baker Highway was closed for several hours Monday evening, but police credit the driver of a tanker truck carrying gasoline with preventing a potentially much worse outcome when the truck collided with a car that had come across the center lane.
The Bellingham Police Department first tweeted about the incident and the closure of the Mount Baker Highway between McLeod and Dewey Roads at 6:11 p.m. Monday, June 21.
The incident occurred at approximately 5:20 p.m., Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald in an email, after a passenger vehicle headed westbound on the highway veered into the eastbound lane of traffic in front of the tanker truck.
The truck’s brakes locked up, as the driver attempted to avoid the collision, Murphy reported, and at the last minute, the passenger vehicle crossed back, though it still hit the truck.
A picture tweeted by police showed heavy damage to the front left corner of the passenger vehicle.
“The driver of the truck was able to keep the truck steady and not tip over by driving it off the side of the road off the shoulder on the north side of the road,” Murphy wrote. “The driver avoided the south side of the road as it was much more likely the truck would have tipped over or been damaged.”
Nobody was injured in the incident and the tanker did not leak any gasoline, according to the tweet, though the truck did end up stuck in a ditch.
Heavy-duty tow trucks had to be called in to remove the truck from the ditch, Murphy reported. It was not until 9 p.m. that a tweet announced the highway was reopened.
The driver of the passenger vehicle was cited for failure to maintain control, according to Murphy.
