Update: As of October 16, there has been 798 semi truck crashes* in Washington State. At the same time last year, there had been 661.
Just in the last few weeks, there have been several major collisions that caused severe injuries—and kept thousands stuck in traffic for hours.
June 9: Three semi trucks collided in Blaine, Washington, just south of the U.S.-Canada border. The Bellingham Herald reports that 2 drivers were hurt— one trapped in the truck for over an hour.
Then, a semi-truck rear-ended a Metro bus on I-5 in Seattle.
June 13: A semi rolled over on eastbound I-90, where ramps from both directions of I-5 merge. The truck driver was injured.
The same day, two people were hurt in a head-on collision between a car and a semi-truck in Covington.
June 16: Northbound I-5 in Tacoma was blocked for hours after a truck driver hit concrete barriers, turning the semi-truck sideways and spilling fuel on the roadway.
Back in March, after yet another truck crash log-jammed I-5 for hours, I looked up the crash statistics for the year to date. See Part 1.
At the time, I posited that the weather may have something to do with the uptick in truck crashes.
But it hasn’t seemed to slow down. Weather can’t be the only factor.
What do you think is causing this?
We should all want to know what’s happening on our roads.
If you have any thoughts on factors leading to this uptick in semi truck crashes, tell me.
* Coluccio Law does not refer to predictable, preventable semi-truck crashes as “accidents.”
See: We say “crash” instead of “accident”.
** Original post noted that as of June 16, 2017, Washington State was up to 434 truck crashes.
Updated on June 23, 2017: so far this year, there’s been 454 collisions involving semis.
Updated on October 16, 2017: It’s still getting worse— 798 semi-truck collisions so far this year.
5 Responses
Thanks for the wonderful article
How odd. I have also noticed the alarming amount of crashes involving semi trucks and then this morning on I-5 NB near Tukwila another one. I decided to start keeping a record of the crashes so I googled ‘Washington state semi truck crashes in 2017′ and this article appeared.’ Glad to find I’m not the only one concerned about this.
Thanks for your comment, and your concern about this pattern. According to the data in the Washington State Patrol Collision Analysis Tool, there’s been 798 semi-truck crashes since January 1st, compared to 661 at the same time last year. If anyone has theories about the cause of this increase, please share!
And another semi crashed on Blewett pass this afternoon (Oct. 16)…Tinfoil hat time. I don’t normally believe in conspiracies, but you have to wonder if something’s going on.
I saw your comment after my latest post. One would wonder if someone is timing to see how long responders take, how long traffic can be tied up. Is there anyway to find out the names of the truck drivers? And have other states noticed an increase in Semi accidents?