Clean-up crews worked into the evening on the scene of an accident on Highway 84 West in Daleville, after an 18-wheeler overturned dumping hundreds of tires along the road and roadside.
The accident, involving three vehicles, occurred at about 2:30 p.m. after a vehicle reportedly pulled out in front of the truck causing it to run off the roadway and into a ravine spilling tires and gasoline.
Another vehicle was hit during the accident. Four people were injured and transported to Southeast Alabama Medical Center. At this time, the injuries are reported as not life-threatening.
The accident shut down one lane of traffic heading toward Enterprise.
Responding to the accident were the Daleville Department of Public Safety, Dothan Hazmat, Daleville Fire and Rescue, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the Alabama Department of Transportation, Hazmat Environmental Cleanup Services and Goodyear Towing.
christopher englehart posted at 1:14 am on Wed, Feb 15, 2012.
People can disagree with me all they want when they read this. But I do not care how much money Daleville does and does not have. I have lived here going on seven years and I have been a driver in this area going on 5 years. On 84 alone there is majoy issues in certain areas of the highway as far as visbiblity goes. This is at intersections of people coming onto and driving on hwy 84 west and east. People need to understand the dangers of pulling in front of 18 wheelers and also slamming on their breaks in front of 18 wheelers. As a child I thought these vehicles were the most amazing things on the road. I would stick my head out the window and motion for them to blow their horns no matter if I were riding just down the street or on a road trip with my family. At 9 years old my grandmother pulled out in front of an 18 wheeler down in Winter Garden Florida and died a few monthes later. Recently I almost lost the very first friend I made when I moved here due to an accident she was involved in with an 18 wheeler. Now, we have 4 people no long with us because someone chose to pull out in front of an 18 wheeler. Put it this way..if you are willing to pull out in front of an 18 wheeler, then you are just was willing to pull out in front of a train even though the lights are blinking and its blowing its horn. The train and the truck are both more likely to win because they can not stop on a dime. Allow me to use some math. The law of physics is everything stays at rest unless acted upon by a moving force. otherwise known as anything at motion stays in motion anything at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an opposing force. Your typical vehicle takes 2 car lengths to come to a safe stop half a car length to come to an emergency stop. It takes an 18 wheeler to safely stop without jackknifing a whole city block. to help you understand this next time your in town.. this is as if you were to work from the inland beside dalevile high school to the dinner on the other side of the campus. A freight train takes a mile if not more to come to complete stop. You are more likely to see this 18 wheeler or frieght train more than they will be able to see you. Therefore, next time you see an 18 wheeler barralling down hwy 84, if you are thinking you can not safely pass chances are you cant. Think of this question I ask you. Would you rather pull out in front of an 18 wheeler or freight train in a rush to get home or get to work or wait that extra 2 minutes or 10 minutes for a truck or train to pass so you can get safely home so your families can see you and hug you rather then wear black to see you be lowered 6 feet beneath the ground in a pretty shiny box?
To the board of Daleville City, we should motion to get more traffic lights put up within the city limits of Daleville to make certain busy intersections more safer to pass through. Also, we should inforce the 55 mph speed zone that is in place from the welcome to daleville sign approaching daleville from the west and at the bottom of the hill going towards enterprise. this would ensure safety within our city limits and would more than likely lower the number of accidents.