Semi-truck carrying onions overturns, injuring four people in Sylmar

A semi-truck carrying onions overturned on eastbound Interstate 210 as it rolled through Sylmar Sunday, Feb. 2. 

The driver allegedly lost control of the big rig as it went through the Los Angeles neighborhood. The truck rolled and caught fire, trapping four people inside the cab of the truck. Good Samaritans helped remove the people — two adults and two children — from the truck before it burst into flames.

Authorities treated and released the victims at the scene. 

The 12:30 a.m. accident tied up the roadway for several hours. 

An average fully loaded 18-wheeler can weigh up to 80,000 lbs. In a surprising statistic, just over half of big rig accidents, at 52 percent, don’t happen on interstates or freeways, they occur on other major arteries. Only 33 percent of the big rig accidents happen on interstates or freeways.

Deaths and injuries are on the rise when it comes to big accidents. Big rig fatalities rose 9 percent in 2017, and 1,300 of those deaths belonged to the truck occupants. Forty percent of these truck occupants did not buckle up. Accident causes for both single-vehicle and multiple-vehicle accidents involve numerous factors, and experts rarely find just one action responsible for the crash. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) conducted a Large Truck Causation Study and found accident contributors included truck driver manifested issues such as fatigue, equipment failure, load shift, inattention, inexperience, and driver miscalculation. Other influences included something encroaching into the truck’s path, including another vehicle, road conditions such as weather, traffic patterns, and construction.