March 23rd, 2010 | 
Author: STONINGTON, CT – A truck driver who worked for country singer, Carrie Underwood, died Saturday in a fiery truck accident on a Connecticut highway. The single truck accident happened on Interstate 95 near the village of Stonington in New London County. The area is in the far south-east section of the state, on the shores of Block Island Sound, near the Rhode Island border, 60 miles southeast of Hartford, CT and 48 miles southwest of Providence, Rhode Island.
The fire from the truck accident burned fast and trapped the driver in the fiery cab of the semi. In less than a half hour both parts of the tractor trailer truck were charred, smoldering wreckage.
At about 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning the truck driver was traveling north on Interstate 95, driving in the left lane of the highway. The tractor trailer truck was hauling staging equipment for the Carrie Underwood concert scheduled for Saturday night at the MGM Grand Theater at the Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, CT.
Shortly after the 18 wheeler truck passed the Exit 91 off ramp, the truck driver apparently lost control of the big rig. The trailer truck crossed onto the left hand shoulder and crashed into the metal highway guardrail, damaging nearly 400 feet of the interstate barrier. The impact of the truck collision ruptured the fuel tanks.
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The semi trailer truck then jackknifed and pitched off the highway bridge over Taugwonk Road. The cab separated from the truck’s trailer as the semi crashed onto the road below. The trailer section slid down the embankment and rolled onto its side into the median, blocking the southbound lanes of Taugwonk Road.
The truck’s cab smashed driver’s side first into the highway bridge support. The tractor cab then fell off the bridge section and burst into flames, ending up facing west on Taugwonk Road.
The fire from the truck accident burned fast and trapped the driver in the fiery cab of the semi. In less than a half hour both parts of the tractor trailer truck were pieces of charred, smoldering wreckage. The unidentified truck driver, believed to be in his 40s and from Oklahoma, was pronounced dead at the scene of the truck accident.
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Stonington Police and the Quiambaug Fire Department responded to the site of the truck accident and ensured that the burning wreckage was completely extinguished. They also determined that no other vehicles or people were involved in the collision.
Connecticut State Police were also at the scene of the fatal truck accident and shut down the northbound lanes of I-95. Drivers were routed off the highway at Exit 88 in Groton, CT, and detoured to Route 117 and then Route 184. Drivers were allowed to get back on I-95 in Pawcatuck at Exit 92. The area of Taugwonk Road where the debris of the truck accident remained closed for most of the day while crews removed the wreckage of the burned cab and trailer.
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Officials with the Connecticut Department of Transportation were also at the truck accident site and were inspecting the damaged guardrail and the bridge support that was hit by the truck. The guardrail had to be replaced and engineers were brought in to determine if the bridge was safe for travel.
The State Department of Environmental Protection and local fire departments determined that the 40 to 50 gallons of diesel fuel which had spilled during the truck accident had mostly burned off and were not a danger to the environment.
CT State Police troopers are investigating the truck accident. One trooper thinks that the truck driver may have fallen asleep, as there were no skid marks on the interstate surface in the area of the truck collision.
Carrie Underwood dedicated the song “Temporary Home” to the truck driver at her concert Saturday night.
No charges have been brought at this time. The truck accident remains under investigation.
Truck accident attorneys, Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP, state that there are a variety of factors that can cause a commercial truck accident. Read more about causes of truck accidents. For more information about Connecticut trucking laws and victims rights, contact a Connecticut truck accident lawyer.
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