Copiah County, MS — February 17, 2025, at least one person was injured in a morning truck accident on southbound Interstate 55.

Authorities said a semi-truck hauling a tanker was among several vehicles involved in a crash near mile marker 55. The tanker truck ran off the road and down an embankment after the crash.

The tanker truck driver, whose name has not been made public at this time, was hospitalized with unspecified injuries, according to authorities.

Authorities have not released any more information about the crash near the Wesson exit at this point. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary

When I read about a crash like this, my first thought is that there’s a lot we don’t know yet. The fact that a tanker truck ran off the road and down an embankment suggests something significant happened before that. Was the driver trying to avoid another vehicle? Did they lose control due to mechanical failure? Was distraction or fatigue a factor? Until investigators go beyond the crash scene and start gathering evidence, it’s impossible to say.

One thing I’ve learned in my years handling truck accident cases is that people tend to focus on the most dramatic part of a crash — like a truck careening off the road — but that moment is usually just the final consequence of a series of events. The real question is what set those events in motion. Investigators should be looking at things like dashcam footage, black box data and driver records to piece together what happened before the truck left the roadway.

It’s also worth noting that tanker trucks pose unique risks. Depending on what the truck was hauling, a crash like this could have led to a hazardous materials spill, making an already dangerous situation even worse. That’s why federal regulations require specialized training for tanker drivers. If that training was lacking, or if the trucking company cut corners on maintenance, those are things that need to be uncovered.

At this point, we don’t have enough information to say exactly what went wrong here. But if authorities only focus on what happened at the crash scene without digging deeper, they may miss key details that explain why this crash really happened.