Woman removed from car after crashing into semi carrying 40,000 pounds of auto parts
A woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance Tuesday morning after her car ended up underneath the trailer of a semi truck carrying almost 40,000 pounds of auto parts.
Ann Arbor Fire Department Battalion Chief Kevin Cook said firefighters responded to westbound Interstate 94 near Ann Arbor-Saline Road during the morning rush hour Tuesday. Cook said firefighters found a car underneath the trailer of a semi truck.
The trailer was loaded down with 39,000 pounds of auto parts, Cook said.
Cook said firefighters did not know how the woman ended up underneath the trailer. However, it’s likely that the crash can be attributed to the snowy conditions that plagued Ann Arbor-area traffic Tuesday morning.
Firefighters were able to remove the woman through a back door of the vehicle, Cook said.
The woman was speaking to firefighters as they turned her over to the care of Huron Valley Ambulance paramedics, Cook said. A further update on her condition was not available Tuesday afternoon.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
Mike
Wed, Feb 22, 2012 : 4:05 a.m.
Glad she seems to be okay. Saw the police talking to her before the EMT arrived. Could not figure out how she was under the side of the trailer. We must slow down especially when the weather is bad.
Ricardo Queso
Wed, Feb 22, 2012 : 2:13 a.m.
O-O-O-O'Rielly's!
N. Todd
Wed, Feb 22, 2012 : 12:33 a.m.
@Kyle Feldscher - After reading your story, I visualized rescue workers removing a woman through the back door of her car which had ended up underneath a semi trailer which was likely due to road conditions. Let me explain how I arrived at this visualization - I read the article. That's it. I didn't interpret it to say anything more than what I read. Keep up the good work. Also, on a scale of 1 to 10, how annoying is it to have readers comment about grammatical errors and the such? It seems like such a self-fulfilling complaint that is a complete waste of everyone's time. (FYI - Annoyance level 8 or 9 for me.) If I have a legitimate complaint about one of your stories, I will be sure to email my concerns to at the address listed at the bottom of the article. I won't try to 'rally-the-troops' behind behind me and attempt to get a few up votes by making a snide attack on actual or perceived grammatical mistakes (especially when their own content is so poorly written). Pot; meet kettle. Perhaps comments that are little more than intended insults about grammar should be reclassified as inappropriate and removed? We can't attack each other, we shouldn't be attacking the writers either. Once again, I can email you directly if I have an issue with your article. I'm not a fan of censorship, of any sort, but I'd be in favor of it in this case as I am much less a fan of wasting my time every day by reading such posts. In order to stay partially related to the actual story, 40,000 pounds is a pretty standard full (weight, not volume) load for those that are wondering. Unless something has changed recently, most semi trucks can weigh a legal maximum of 80,000 pounds. Truck and trailer is roughly 35-40k pounds which leaves about 40-45k pounds for 'product'. That is, if anyone cares.
TinyArtist
Wed, Feb 22, 2012 : 2:50 p.m.
The CRASH was the result of road conditions. The semi was the result of capitalism and commerce.
bunnyabbot
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 7:28 p.m.
You know the writing style could be better here, the woman luckily probably didn't have 39,000 pounds of stuff on top of her, it may have been above her but not weighted on top of her. Usually first responders have to extract someone from this kind of situation, removing the woman sounds like less effort and minimalizes what kind of thought process is involved in how to get a crash person out in the best way to lesson the impact of additional trauma or danger to the victim and the responders. I hope she will be ok.
steve h
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 10:30 p.m.
obviously it was the road commissions' fault eh just curious?
bunnyabbot
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 10:17 p.m.
I did read the article and I didn't say anything to the effect that he was sensationalizing it.
justcurious
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 8:26 p.m.
The article makes perfect sense to me.
StopThink
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 8:13 p.m.
The article doesn't say that... it says her car was under the semi. I mean seriously, she wouldn't be speaking to the ff's when HVA was taking her away. I think you skimmed the article and rushed to criticize... the author didn't sensationalize this story in any way, you only tried to make it appear that he did. Why?
bunnyabbot
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 8:05 p.m.
actionjacksons response at least shows one reader thought the weight was on top of the vehicle as he also mentioned car design. I got the article but I could see how it would confuse others as it did actionjackson. so did you ask the Battalion Chief any questions or try to espound on what she told you? I only ask because a news article that is so short reads more like a blog post you would see on face book than a news site. Your title is reporter not blogger. This isn't a personal issue I have with you, but there are many "reporters" on this site that don't seem to do more than blog.
Kyle Feldscher
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 7:53 p.m.
bunnyabbot - I was told by Battalion Chief Cook that the driver ended up underneath the trailer and that the trailer was carrying 39,000 pounds of auto parts. The story never states the weight was on top of her, it only states that she was underneath the trailer. As for removal vs. extraction, I wasn't on scene and I don't know exactly what went into getting her out of the vehicle. Battalion Chief Cook told me she was removed, and so I echoed his language.
actionjackson
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 6:55 p.m.
That is one fortunate woman! What a lot of weight to be on top of your vehicle. Thanks to the manufacturers for making safety a priority in design of our newer vehicles.
TinyArtist
Wed, Feb 22, 2012 : 2:54 p.m.
I drove by the same area next to an eighteen wheeler -- if I had had more knuckles, they would have been on that steering wheel with my current allotment. She was not fortunate. I was.
justcurious
Tue, Feb 21, 2012 : 8:24 p.m.
Good point. A buick ended up underneath a semi trailer during the last snow "event" and the driver was unhurt in that one too.