I-75 in Georgia closed for hours following fiery truck accident

It took several hours for the flames to die down after a passenger truck collided with a semi-truck Sunday afternoon on I-75 near Cartersville.

The Georgia State Patrol said that shortly after 3 p.m., a man driving a pickup truck traveling northbound smashed through the guardrails, crossing over into the southbound lanes and slammed into a tractor trailer carrying plastic bags. The passenger vehicle struck the fuel tank of the semi, igniting a fire that could be seen for miles.

The driver of the pickup, 54 year-old Scott Thurman died on the scene of the accident.

The tractor-trailer driver Raymond Davis, 45, was injured as his truck became engulfed in flames. He was taken to a local hospital with burns on half of his body.

Police had to close the northbound lanes of 1-75 while the fire burned out. Battalion Chief of the Bartow County Fire Department, David Levy stated they couldn’t use water to put out the fire because they were concerned the run off would leak into local waterways. The northbound lanes of I-75 reopened around midnight.

Fatal and serious injuries are fairly common when large commercial vehicles are involved. The victims of these accidents face a long road to recovery along with costly medical bills, but when they hire a truck accident attorney they will be able to seek compensation for their injuries.

Proficient truck accident lawyers are able to recover favorable settlements for the parties who have been injured due to another driver’s negligence. Because truck accident attorneys specialize in these types of collisions they make it possible for the interested parties to recover any of the costs incurred because of property damage or personal injury.