The Ohio Trucking Association is reminding motorists to treat semi trucks with respect in the wake of a fiery wreck involving a reckless pickup truck and a tanker truck hauling fuel. 

The crash happened on Sunday, June 22nd, near Columbus, Ohio, when a reckless pickup truck driver crashed into a tanker truck hauling fuel while weaving through traffic. The crash caused a large explosion, but the truck driver managed to escape the incident in stable condition. The pickup truck kept driving, and the motorist later abandoned the vehicle. The motorist is still at large. 

“It looked like the kind of thing you see in war movies,” explained Steve Bell, a crash witness, to MyFox28. “It was just thick black smoke and explosion after explosion inside the fireball that was across both lanes and the entire underside of the bridge. It was 200 or 300 yards in the air. It was huge.”

In the wake of the crash, the Ohio Trucking Association is reminding motorists to use caution when traveling around tractor trailers, tanker truck or not. 

“Regardless of the load, a sudden lane change or being cut off can destabilize a large, high-profile vehicle like a tanker,” said Tom Balzer, President and CEO of the Ohio Trucking Association.

“In most cases, it’s not the truckers causing the accidents,” Balzer continued. “It’s the passenger vehicles making critical errors.”

FMCSA data shows that 5,526 commercial vehicles were involved in crashes in Ohio in 2024. 

“The stopping distance for a fully loaded truck is about three football fields from highway speeds down to zero,” Balzer explained. “That technology has gotten better as the brakes have gotten better, but still it’s reaction time. It takes a considerable amount of time to do that when you’re hauling about 60,000 pounds… You’re talking about a vehicle that is over 60 feet long. The mirrors don’t pick up everything. If you’re beside a truck, you’re probably in its blind spot.”

Balzer and the Ohio Trucking Association are working to push public awareness campaigns to help make Ohio roads safer. 

“Just operating efficiently around vehicles, not cutting them off, giving them plenty of warning by using your turn signal are great habits [for motorists],” Balzer said.

Anyone with information regarding the crash or the identity of the pickup truck driver, is urged to call the Columbus Division of Police at (614) 645-4760 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-TIPS (8477).