IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KUTV) — A gasoline tanker flipped onto its side near a truck stop off Interstate 15 in Idaho Falls earlier this week, missing a Florida truck driver’s parked rig by just feet.
Nicholas Monroy was sleeping in his truck when he was awakened by what he described as sounding like “a freight train.”
“I just closed my curtains and went to sleep for about three or four hours. And after that, I heard what it felt like a freight train at first, honestly,” Monroy said.
His dashcam captured the moment the gas-filled tanker rolled onto its side over an electrical box. Monroy ran to the scene and called 911, only then realizing the full danger of the situation.
“One of the other drivers, as I was on the phone with dispatch…he said something to me that I’ll probably remember for a long time. He said, ‘Dude, that thing is loaded.’ I said, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, we’re one cigarette away from dying right now,'” Monroy recalled.
Rick Clasby, executive director of the Utah Trucking Association, which provides safety training for companies and drivers weighed in on the incident.
“You just don’t see a trailer rolling over like that at that slowest speed very often,” Clasby said.
Video footage appears to show the lead trailer detaching before rolling over. Clasby emphasized the importance of thorough pre-trip inspections. “The pre-trip inspection, make sure that everything is locked in place”, Clasby explained.
Like Clasby, Monroy stresses this advice more than ever.
“I would say just check, double check, triple check. Just be as vigilant as you can,” Monroy said. “It’s hot out here, it’s cold out here, it’s freezing out here, it’s rainy, it’s snowy, it’s everything that nobody wants to be in. But you just never know if something like this can happen to you.”
While no one was injured in the incident, both Monroy and Clasby agreed it also highlights the need for safer parking options for truckers throughout the country, including Utah.
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