A truck driver walked away from a serious crash Wednesday morning after slamming into ‘Joe’s Truck Stop,’ an area infamous for semi truck crashes.
The accident happened on September 2nd in Fort Payne, Alabama at approximately 5:40 a.m. at the base of Lookout Mountain.
According to the Times-Journal, truck driver Devin Lamar Morgan was hauling AC mounting pads down Lookout Mountain when he attempted to make a right turn, shifting his load and causing the truck to overturn. Police say that the truck was traveling at such speed that the left side of the trailer was torn off as it skidded down the road and crashed into the concrete slab at the base of the mountain known as ‘Joe’s Truck Stop.’
“It appears that the truck might have been traveling too fast at the curve as he attempted to make the right turn at the bottom and his load shifted and overturned,” explained Fort Payne Police Chief Randy Bynum.
The force of the impact crushed the front end of the truck, trapping Morgan inside of the cab, but first responders were able to cut him free and he crawled out on his own, miraculously unhurt aside from a few minor lacerations. Morgan was taken to a nearby hospital for his non life-threatening injuries.
“They did a good job cutting him out,” Fort Payne Fire Chief Ron Saferite, who explained that the driver’s side door had to be pried open before Morgan could escape.
The force of the accident was so great that a section of the 4-foot-thick steel-reinforced concrete slab was knocked loose from the rest.
Although the spot is known as the site of dozens of accidents over the last 80 years, officials say that there have been fewer wrecks since the installation of a brake check at the top of Lookout Mountain back in 2014. That site has been vital in the prevention of accidents at the 90’ turn at the bottom of Wallace Avenue.
Still, there is a plan to extend Wallace Avenue and eliminate the sharp turn, making it easier for truck drivers to maintain control of their rigs.
“The re-routing and overpass is on the books in Montgomery and it’s just a matter of time. I’d say probably five years or more,” Mayor Larry Chesser said.
“They’ve already chosen the route, connecting across the creek and railroad and connecting down at the South Y.”
The first concrete barrier erected at the 90’ turn was built by JD Faulkner in the late 1950’s in an attempt to prevent any runaway vehicles from crashing into his family’s property. Still, it is reported that vast quantities of potatoes, steel, live poultry, cattle, sugar, lumber, manure, frozen chicken, watermelons, rice, eggs, lettuce, wood chips, marble chips, milk, cement filler, tar, clothing, cardboard and beer have been spilled on the property, and many truck drivers have died in these accidents.