Another Unsecured Load Sparks Chaos & 4 Car Pileup in Tri-Cities

4 Car Collision Caused by Another Unsecured Load

Another unsecured load and stuff flying off the back of a trailer in Tri-Cities, but this time causes a 4-car accident.

An Unsecured Load Fell Off the Trailer Causing Domino Effect

Another unsecured load caused an injury 4-car accident today in Tri-Cities on SR-397. Washington State Patrol Trooper Chris Thorson posted about the accident on Twitter.

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In his Tweet, he describes a 4-car accident on SR-397 and 10th Avenue caused by traffic slowing down to avoid stuff in the road that had fallen off an unsecured trailer. The objects in the road caused a domino effect eventually involving 4 cars and injuring at least 1 person.

The Trailer Was Using a Ladder to Extend the Bed Without Straps

After the initial post, Trooper Thorson posted again, this time showing the unsecured trailer that caused the chaos. There were no straps or ropes used anywhere in the overloaded trailer. To say it was overloaded was putting it mildly, just look at the picture at the top of the article.

Using a Ladder to Exend the Bed of the Trailer

They were even using a ladder to extend the back of the bed and once again had zero straps to secure the load. The long trailer had a large generator, a motorcycle, multiple tubs of equipment, and a ladder. I thought after the cement fiasco yesterday that would be the worst unsecured load of the week, but this guy woke up and said..."Hold my beer!"

Washington State Law to Secure Your Load

The automatic fee for an unsecured load is $216. You could also receive penalties up to $5,000 and could be sentenced to up to 1 year in prison if your unsecured load falls off and causes bodily harm to someone. Having an unsecured load is easily prevented if you just do these 5 simple things before you travel. Read more by clicking here.

1- Cover your load. Cover your load with a tarp and then securely fasten the tarp to the vehicle.
2- Tie down your load using rope, netting, straps, or chains directly to your vehicle.
3- Put lighter items lower, put heavy items on top to help keep them in place.
4- Don't overload.
5- Double-check your load again before you leave.