SELMA – Just past midnight, a woman driving home following a Christmas shopping trip sideswiped a fully loaded gasoline tanker, narrowly averting a serious crash on US 70 at Oak Street.
The truck had just left the Selma oil terminals when the car reportedly passed it in the left lane but drifted into the side of the slower moving tractor-trailer.
The car was seriously damaged, however, the tank trailer loaded with fuel was not impacted and did not leak. Although the truck’s saddle tank full of 100 gallons of diesel fuel was badly damaged it did not rupture.
The westbound lanes of Highway 70 were closed for nearly an hour while the accident was investigated and the roadway cleared of debris.
Although the drivers were shaken by the incident, neither was injured.
The tanker truck was escorted back to its nearby yard.
The North Carolina State Highway Patrol investigated the accident.
Both Selma and Wilson’s Mills fire departments were dispatched to the potentially serious accident.
