An inexperienced truck driver overturned his big rig on a curve in Washington on Tuesday, spilling 100 gallons of diesel fuel.

The accident happened in Whatcom County, Washington on April 3rd at around 9:30 a.m.

The incident was described as follows in an email from the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office to Discover Ferndale News.

“Driver was an inexperienced operator who just received his CDL and was from out of state. Not being from the area he was using a mapping program to find Intalco [the delivery destination] as they were delivering a load of aluminum bars on a 40 ft flat bed trailer. The load was approx 48,000 lbs.
As the semi was west bound on W Smith Rd, it came to a sharp right turn onto Hovander Rd. The Driver stated there was incoming traffic so he didn’t move into the oncoming lane to make room for the turn. Failing to do so caused the trailers right rear tires to start going off the shoulder. As the driver continued around the corner the trailer went further off the shoulder and began to sink in the muddy shoulder until the trailer was pulled into a water filled ditch. The weight of the load caused the trailer to begin to roll over onto its top. This eventually caused the truck to also flip over, finally coming to a rest completely upside down and partially submerged under water.”

The truck driver’s training partner was in the sleeper berth at the time of the accident but denied medical attention for a minor wrist injury.

The crash caused approximately 100 gallons of diesel fuel to spill from the big rig, prompting the Department of Ecology to report to the scene of the accident in order to contain the spill and evaluate any environmental damage. The spill has since been cleaned and no environmental repercussions are expected.

Six aluminum bars fell from the trailer and into the roadside ditch in the wreck, forcing the closure of West Smith Road for several hours as crews worked to remove the bars weighing in at an estimated 7,800 pounds each. Cleanup of the wreck continued into Wednesday morning, and the shoulder of West Smith Road will need to be repaired.

The unidentified, unexperienced driver was issued a citation for driving with wheels off roadway.