Looking at the picture, you have to wonder what happened. As Kathryn Kattalia reports for the New York Daily News, the trailer on a big rig came to rest at almost 90 degrees after the trailer was lifted up by the big rig’s hydraulics, causing traffic on the Houston highway to be shut down after this “bizarre” tractor trailer accident.
As Kattalia reports, the cab of the big rig came free of its trailer when the trailer hit the overhead sign, after the hydraulic lifter “mysteriously raised” it up while the rig was headed down the highway.
It took two 150-foot cranes brought out by the Texas Department of Transportation to remove the trailer from the roadway.
An officer with the Houston Police Department said, “We don’t know if it’s mechanical failure or human error.”
It could cost as much as $100,000 to fix the highway sign, according to the Texas Department of Transportation, and the big rig driver has already been issued a citation. The driver could also be held responsible for the cost of repair.
Source: New York Daily News, “Bizarre crash leaves truck bed teetering against exit sign along Interstate-45 in Houston,” by Kathryn Kattalia, 08/10/11