Log truck-plow crash temporarily closes I-91; no life-threatening injuries

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The log truck with its cab detached after rolling over on I-91. Photos courtesy of S.G. Reed Truck Services.

A tractor-trailer truck carrying logs on I-91 collided with a VTrans plow truck Wednesday evening shutting down the highway completely for about 20 minutes and one northbound lane of the highway for several hours.

There were no life-threatening injuries in the accident.

According to Vermont State Police, Michael Couture, 36, of St-Ephrem De Beacue, Quebec, was driving a tractor trailer carrying logs north.

As he approached mile marker 41 in Springfield at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, he came to a downhill stretch of road with traffic ahead, including a VTrans plow.

A Reed wrecker begins the recovery of the VTrans Plow.

Couture could not slow the log truck as it reached the plow and instead tried to pass it in the breakdown lane. Police say that the log truck then rear-ended the plow, sending the plow into the median.

When he hit the plow, Couture lost control of the log truck, which jackknifed, hit the guardrails and ended up rolling over in the median.

The impact ripped the cab off Couture’s Kenworth tractor while the trailer flipped over and ended up on top of its load of logs.

The trailer on top of its cargo

Vermont State Police, VTrans, Vermont DMV and the Springfield Fire Department responded to the crash, shutting down the highway.

Couture was uninjured in the crash while plow driver Michael Davis, 35, of Bellows Falls was taken to Springfield Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

Police say that Couture showed no signs of impairment. He was issued citations for imprudent speed for the conditions and not maintaining his lane.

After strapping the cab back on, the Reed crew begins moving the truck

S.G. Reed Truck Services of Newport, N.H., removed the plow truck and the tractor unit during the evening. On Thursday, Reed returned with Savage Trucking of Chester to remove the trailer and the logs.

 

Savage Trucking recovers the spilled logs on Thursday

 

 

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  1. Susan Bourne says:

    Minor injuries = major miracle.