A motorist was seriously injured in Massachusetts on Wednesday after he crashed straight into a flatbed truck’s load of steel beams.
The accident happened on Monday, January 4th in a residential area of Walpole, Massachusetts.
According to Boston 25 News, a flatbed semi truck hauling an oversized load of 100 foot steel beams was backing into KW Steel Structures to deliver the metal when a 70-year-old motorist apparently failed to see the neutral colored beams and crashed right into the load, flattening the roof of the car and seriously injuring the driver.
The motorist survived the wreck but was flown to a nearby hospital with serious injuries. His current condition is not known.
“It’s just amazing how that poor man is still alive,” said Gilbert James, a witness to the crash.
Investigating officers believe that the motorist simply didn’t see the beams due to their neutral color, which is what caused the crash. Officers also point out that the safety car, or “spotters” were not in close proximity to the rig at the time of the incident, and may have been neglecting to follow protocol.
“You can see the color of [the beams], and the officer noted that when he got here. The sky was gray just because of the overcast and everything,” Chief John Carmichael said. “And it’s likely he didn’t believe… the operator [didn’t] even saw the beams until the impact occurred.”
The crash is currently under investigation by the Walpole Police Department Crash Reconstruction Unit and the Massachusetts State Police Truck-Team.