In Colombia, Bogota, on April 20, 2007, a truck overturned when it cornered a turn too fast, spilling almost a ton of cocaine on the highway. The cocaine was hidden in the walls and roof of the truck. The driver was not hurt, but was arrested. What was he thinking?

 

Fredy Amariles, Reuters

Why did 3,000 chickens cross the road? (Insert your own punchline here)

On October 12, 2007, 3,000 chickens were being transported on the A-80, one of Scotland’s busiest roads. The lorry jack-knifed near Castlecary, spilling chickens everywhere.

The driver was treated for back injuries. 400 chickens died in the accident, or later from their injuries. Traffic backed-up for five miles and the A-80 was closed for hours.

Thousands of chickens escaped from their crates and flocked on the road and nearby.

Feathers were everywhere.

Police spent five hours trying to catch the birds. Officers also took down the license numbers of drivers that were using their cell phones to take photos of them as they chased the chickens. They reported that 20 drivers will be charged with using a cell phone while driving.

Chicken Handlers from Noble Foods and Veterinarians arrived to help. One Vet estimated that she had to put down about 80 chickens with broken wings and legs.

The survivors were eventually put back in their crates and taken to a processing plant where they were slaughtered as planned. Not a good day for the chickens.

 

 

TimesOnline and Daily Mail

Eww. This truck filled with animal parts (although it looks like mostly chickens) overturned on I-287 in Piscataway, NJ (year unkown). The animal parts were on their way to be made into pet food in Pennsylvania.

Cars spilled on the road. That’s a good one. A little tough to clean up, too.

Hair-raising accident. (Yes, I really did say that.) On April 16, 2007 a truck carrying 5,000 bunnies to a slaughterhouse overturned in Hungary. The accident closed the main highway between the capitals of Hungary and Austria for hours. The vehicle carrying the bunnies was struck by another truck when that driver fell asleep. Most of the rabbits were hopping around the freeway, but some stayed in their broken cages. Unfortunately, about 500 rabbits were killed (in the accident, the rest were killed later). The good news is that about 100 bunnies hopped away and were not captured.

 

MSNBC

Nooooo! Highway 401 in Mississaugua (Canada, I believe) was closed on May 11, 2005 after an accident that spilled 2,184 cases of Grolsch beer. A woman driving a car, swerved out of her lane and into the path of a Molson beer truck, causing the truck to roll over and the car to flip. One officer described the scene as “a sea of beer”. The woman’s life was most likely saved by her seatbelt and airbag. The beer was a gonner.

See below for the Great Beer Spill Controversy!

UPDATE 3/5/08: Wow! www.truckspills.com has gotten a lot of attention in the past few weeks. And apparently this story has upset a lot of Canadians who apparently do not appreciate being blamed for spilled beer. The original news story I got this photo from did say that it was “Highway 402 in Mississaugua”. The website was a Canadian newspaper. Another report said “heading north on the Trans Canada Highway to Thunder Bay”.

But I have received quite a few emails that range from mild comments to outrage over the location of this spill. Some quotes…

“That is a 2 lane road. The Hwy 401 in Ontario (which does indeed run through Mississauga) is never narrower than 4 lanes with a divided median, and is in fact 16 lanes wide at some points. Keep up the cool site!”

“…that aint Canada, that’s in The Netherlands! So maybe you should update it or something, cause it sure is in Holland.
Reasons why this is:
– Grolsch is Dutch beer
– The police officer and woman wear Dutch police outfits
– The poles next to the road are the same used here in The Netherlands
– The road and the scenery look like here, probably somewhere on ”De Veluwe” (a big forest/nature thingy)

Cool! I didn’t realize that I was living in Canada….
I don’t know where you came up with the beer spill story, but that is complete BS. It wasn’t in Canada, but in the home country of Grolsch beer The Netherlands. Location: near the city of Mariënberg and if you really want to know the road: it was the N36… 😀
Two trucks crashed and one of them had beer on board!

This one’s just about your Beer Spill article. As I’m writing this, you have “Highway 401 in Mississaugua (Canada, I believe) was closed on May 11, 2005” on the page. Just to correct it, it’s spelled “Mississauga” and it is indeed in Canada. Right next to Toronto, if that helps.

As a Canadian an proud beer drinker, I checked out the page on the spilt beer to mourn this tragic loss….
While you say it takes place in Canada (first Mississauga and then the Trans Canada), I can 100% confirm that this is not a Canadian event.
The vehicles (trucks and cars) in the pictures are not models sold in North America. Also, the road marking standard here is a yellow centerline with white lane markers (edges).

The consensus so far is that it was in the Netherlands. If anyone can find an actual news report on this, I’ll gladly post it here to clear up the controversy.

This site also claims it was Canada, but they could have swiped it from me.

Beer Crimes

Will this ever be cleared up? We strive for accuracy! On the bright side, my further research has turned up the new photo posted above. Does anyone know this beer drinker? He has the answer!

 

thestar.com

 

 

 

 

A Truck full of sugar beets overturned near East Grand Forks on October 2, 2008. The driver and his passenger were OK, but the driver suffered a cut on his head. Apparently the truck turned the corner too fast and lost control. A semi hauling sugar beets rolled over south of East Grand Forks this morning, spilling its load onto the road, shoulder, ditch and beyond.

The crash, which was reported around 9 a.m., left the rig lying on its side in the middle of Highway 220, causing authorities to block off a stretch of the road.

The driver and a passenger, both men, were in the cab when it rolled. The driver suffered a cut to his head.
Law enforcement and rescue personal standby on Minnesota Highway 220 South of East Grand Forks at the site of an overturned beet truck this morning (John Stennes, Herald photographer)
Law enforcement and rescue personal

“He’s doing fine,” said State Patrol Sgt. Dean Smith.

Smith did not know the passenger’s condition and he declined to name the two men.

Smith said his department was investigating the crash, but a preliminary inspection of the scene revealed the cause was likely “a combination of driver error and speed.”

“It came into a corner a little too fast,” he said.

Smith said a witness told authorities the northbound truck was traveling “fast” as it came into a turn where Highway 200 veers east at an intersection with Polk County Road 238.

Apparently October 2 is the first day of the beet harvest and this was the first overturned truck of the season. Unfortunately it wasn’t the last and there were a few fatalities during this year’s beet harvest.

I must say I didn’t know the beet harvest was so dangerous.

 

WDAY News 6

A truck carrying 12 million honeybees hit a wall on a highway ramp on December 15, 2004. The truck was carrying 480 bee colonies to California to polinate the almond crop when it hit a wall sending the bees toppling over the wall. The bees swarmed on a post below for the overpass. The Las Vegas Fire Department doused the bees with water to kill them. You’d probably be surprised to know how many bees are transported around the country every day. They are critical to polinate many crops including fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts. Without them we wouldn’t have enough food.

 

 

On September 18, 2007, a trailer hauling more than 450 beehives ran off the road and overturned on I-94 near Huntley, Wyoming. There were as many as 13.7 million bees in the truck and thousands were freed in the accident.

The freed bees swarmed in the area. Firefighters had to suit-up in protective gear before being able to free the driver. Several rescuers were stung. As the temperature dropped through the evening, the bees calmed down and beekeepers from the area assisted as they returned to their hives.

The driver said he swerved to avoid a reckless driver, but a witness reported that the truck was alone in it’s lane at the time and simply swerved off the freeway.

Billings Gazette

 

 

Incidentially, the bee population in the US is under attack from many sources right now. More than a quarter of the US bee colonies have been lost. This is tens of billions of bees. Bees are being lost to mites, suburban sprawl, and a new problem called Colony Collapse Disorder. Colony Collapse Disorder is a recent threat in which bees simply vanish from their hive, sometimes leaving just a queen and a few workers. The strange thing is that none of the creatures that would normally take over a hive and eat all the honey are seen in the abandoned hives. Nobody yet knows what is causing the problem, although theories range from genetically modified crops, cell phone towers, high-voltage transmission lines, and terrorists. One interesting theory is “Bee Rapture”, in which God has recalled them to heaven.

With fewer bees, beekeepers are transporting bees more often, and farther to polinate crops.

Yikes! A trailer carrying 26 alligator carcasses to a processing plant overturned on a Fort Lauderdale highway (year unknown). The carcasses, which weighed about 10,000 pounds were put on a flatbed truck and taken to the processing plant.

Who knew alligators were being hauled around the country? Alligator farming is big business in Florida, Texas and Louisiana, producing about 45,000 hides a year. 6-7 foot hides sell for as much as $300. The market for alligator meat also produces about 300,000 pounds a year.

Alligators should not be confused with crocodiles, which are a completely different animal. One way to tell the difference is that alligators teeth do not show when their mouth is closed, crocodiles do.

 

 

On November 19, 2008 a truck rolled over in Ballan (somewhere in Australia) and dumped new cars on the median. Fortunately, the driver had only minor injuries. The truck was on it’s way from Adelaide to Melbourne. The damaged cars were hauled away to be scrapped.

 

The Courier