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September 23, 2008

A close call

Only minor injuries result from 2-vehicle accident

John Walker

VELMA — VELMA — A two-truck collision just north of Velma Monday afternoon resulted in only minor injuries.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Smith said that a flatbed dump truck was pulling a backhoe on a trailer north on Humphrey’s Road about one mile north of Velma.

Coming in the opposite direction was a Kenworth tractor-trailer rig hauling crude oil, Smith said.

As the dump truck traveled north, a 1-ton pickup in front of it slowed to turn east. The driver of the dump truck slammed on his brakes to avoid a collision, but was apparently traveling at too high a speed, and when he hit the brakes, the trailer continued the forward motion and caused the truck to jackknife in the middle of the road. The driver of the semi took evasive action to avoid hitting the dump truck, Smith said.

He said that the semi went off the road into a ditch on the west side of the road, but still collided with the dump truck.

The front end of the semi was totaled, but the crude oil did not spill onto the ground, Smith said.

The company who owns the semi had another vehicle at the scene shortly after the accident to safely transfer the oil out of the semi, Smith said.

The driver of the crude oil truck was uninjured, Smith said.

“He was lucky,” Smith said.

“He got out of the truck himself and was on the side of the road when officers arrived on scene.”

The other driver was transported to the hospital, but was not admitted, Smith said.

The driver of the dump truck was cited for following too closely, the trooper said. The pickup that had slowed to make a turn and inadvertently started the chain reaction made the turn safely and went on its way. It was not involved in the collision.

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