August 17th, 2008

Car carrier fire consumes five cars in Delaware

I was a bit slow in picking up the news of this fire. Delawareonline has a video of the fire dept fighting the blaze and this report:

The News Journal • August 13, 2008

Middletown and Odessa firefighters work to extinguish flames from a burning car hauler Tuesday on Boyds Corner Road near the intersection with Summit Bridge Road north of Middletown. Five cars and the hauler were severely damaged in the fire that started shortly before 6:30 p.m. The flames were visible from at least 15 miles away.

July 18th, 2008

Pinned under his own car carrier!

trapped under an auto transporter

This reported on the CourierNewsOnline. they even have a short video.

ELGIN — The broad smile across Eddie Silva’s face spoke volumes about his relief and good fortune after emergency workers freed the 39-year-old truck driver who was trapped under his rig Thursday afternoon.

“I was just tying to fix the trailer,” said Silva, who was transporting vehicles from Copart Auto Auction Inc., 1475 Bluff City Blvd., for his company, Rojo Used Auto Parts of Hidalgo, Texas. “So when I finished, I was trying to get out, and my head got stuck on a piece of pipe.”

Silva had just left Copart when he said he heard what he thought was an air leak. He pulled the truck over, and crawled underneath to investigate when the truck came down on him, trapping his neck under a metal bar located between two rear wheels for about an hour.

freed from under his own car hauler

July 7th, 2008

New Car BBQ

Channel 13 from New York has a very good report on an accidental BBQ on a new-car hauler. They not only have a slide show posted but also a video report as well.

The truck driver–Timothy Misuraca, 33, of Blasdell N.Y.–told authorities that he had been traveling south when an outside tire on the rear of the trailer blew out. When he pulled over to inspect the tire, he saw that an inside tire was on fire.

Misuraca said he ran to his tractor to get a fire extinguisher and when he returned, the rear of the trailer was fully engulfed in flames.

July 4th, 2008

This wreck is off of tow911 If you click the link you can see all of the pictures.

3-vehicles had shifted on the trailer almost coming off and 1-vehicle did come off and rolled over on the southbound lanes

June 25th, 2008

Fatal Wreck In Wyoming involving carhauler

The Jackson Hole News and Guide is reporting a double fatality in the collision of a Ford Focus and an auto transport truck. The transport driver was taken to the hospital for treatment but neither of the occupants of the Focus survived. The auto transporter was traveling empty northbound on Hwy 89 in the Grand Teton National Park. The Ford Focus ,registered in Arizona, was southbound.

NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / BRADLY J. BONER

From the colors it looks like it may have been a Selland Auto Transport truck.

6-27-08 I got this update from the Hearld Tribune

Grand Teton National Park officials say two tourists from Belgium were killed when their car crashed head-on with a semi-truck hauling a car transport trailer.

This is a sad report.

June 19th, 2008

Bidders injured at Manheim Orlando auto auction in Ocoee

WFTV has a slideshow of helicopter shots. I pray that the injured man is able to recover fully. It sounds much Like the tragic accident at Adesa awhile back.

The WFTV article says Three people were run down by a car during an auto auction in Orange County. It happened at the Manheim Auto Auction off West Colonial Drive on Tuesday.


Eyewitnesses said a worker driving a Porsche Cayenne lost control and went into the crowd. Four people went to the hospital. That includes the driver. One person was left in serious condition.

May 29th, 2008

Carhauler crashes into the Colorado river

News 5 in Phoenix is reporting the crash of an auto transport truck near the border It is also being reported by Channel 8 in Las Vegas Nevada

An out-of-control semi-truck loaded with cars careened off a bridge and crashed into the Colorado River near Laughlin, said the Nevada Highway Patrol.The truck was eastbound on state Route 163, a main roadway through the town on the Nevada-Arizona state line, said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea. laughlin-auto transporter in the river

I wonder how heavy this truck was. I think he just had on 5 vehicles. That is a quite a grade to come down but with five axles of brakes and just 60 or 70 thousand lbs gross you would not expect him to overheat the brakes, especially if he has an engine brake. Fortunately we just have some busted up vehicles and minor injuries to the people involve. I’m sure it was quite scary for the occupants of the cars that were hit but can you imagine the ride that driver had!

laughlin-auto transporter in the river

6-02-08 ronjon619 posted a comment that he thought there was six vehicles so I posted this second picture that proves he was right and I was wrong. I had missed the little black car in the belly. Apparently he has a sharp eye!

You can view a bunch of great recovery pictures of this accident on TOW411. Here is another one from there

Tow truck lifts auto tranporter from the river

May 10th, 2008

Auto Transporter is a victim of a fatal head-on in Minnesota

usaflag.gif A flag for Joe on memorial day

A horrible crash in Minn has claimed the life of an auto transporter out of Phoenix AZ and the driver of the vehicle that hit him. According to the Minnesota State Patrol an SUV crossed the center and struck the transporter head-on. Our prayers go out to the familys of both drivers.

fatal-crash takes the life of auto transporter Joseph H. Puckett

ABC Eyewitness News 5 has a full story

5-16-08 The names of the two drivers have been released. The transport driver was Joseph H. Puckett, 49, of Phoenix, AZ and the suv was 18-year-old James E. Selden II, of Shafer.

This is so tragic! James was reportedly depressed. This report on startribune.com says that someone was concerned enough to call 911 when he left in his suv!

April 9th, 2008

Tragedy at Adesa Auto Auction

I saw this on wkbw.com

Man Crushed by Truck at Auto Auction

Man Crushed by Truck at Auto Auction

Story Updated: Apr 8, 2008 at 8:23 PM EDT

By Ginger Geoffery

A man is crushed to death by a truck during a busy auto auction in Newstead. It happened Tuesday morning around 10:30 at the Adesa Auto Auction in Newstead. Police say the victim, 54-year-old William Bushnell of Gowanda, was at the auction working for an auto dealer, and he was walking through the bays where the vehicles are displayed to potential bidders when a worker who was pulling a truck in a bay lost control.

Witnesses describe a chaotic scene following the accident. “There was just a lot of people all over. There were some females in there crying,” says Dan Glaser, an auto dealer who always attends the Tuesday auctions.

The driver of the truck, 52-year-old Roseann Adornetto, told sheriff’s investigators she been working as a temporary employee moving vehicles at the auctions for the past year, but she doesn’t know exactly what happened this Tuesday morning when the Dodge truck she was pulling into one of the auction bays suddenly accelerated.

“She’d put it in ‘park’ she told us to rev the engine, and then when she put it from ‘park’ into ‘drive’ that’s when the vehicle jumped forward and to the left,” says Sgt. Thomas Daugherty of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office.

The truck pinned Bushnell against the wall and investigators say the force collapsed part of the wall. Bushnell was rushed to the Erie County Medical Center but he died from his injuries. “I think he was killed instantly. He wasn’t moving. They tried to resuscitate him. They couldn’t,” says Glaser.

Investigators impounded the truck to check it for mechanical problems. “She (Adornetto) told us at the hospital the vehicle was running rough and she was revving the engine to keep it running. She may have possibly accidentally stepped on accelerator instead of brake,” says Sgt. Daugherty.

The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating and they haven’t determined yet what charges, if any, Roseann Adornetto will face. They may also take a closer look at whether there are any safety issues that need to be addressed at Adesa in light of this accident.

Here is an update from an eye-witness named Chuck that I got off of this blog. What a tragic day!

I am truly saddened by today’s events at Adesa. I was there and heard the crash. I walked over and saw a man lying there lifeless. For the next hour, all the dealers and Adesa staff walked around and shared the same look of disbelief. It could have been anyone of us. We get up in the morning,leave our homes,not realizing that life can end in an instant. I did not know Bill or the driver,but my heart goes out to both of them. There families will be in my prayers.

March 28th, 2008

Hey! Who turned out the lights!

I saw this on The Mirror

A car hauler, as well as several vehicles it was hauling, rests Thursday in the ditch west of U.S. Highway 24-40 near Kansas Avenue. According to the driver of the vehicle, the interior and exterior lights on the hauler went out as he was driving about 9 p.m. Wednesday and his vehicle went off the road where the highway curves. kansas car carrier wreck

Photo by Shawn Linenberger