Over 150,000 tomatoes ended up on Interstate 80 in Vacaville, Calif., after the semi truck carrying them crashed through the median. The accident injured several people, including the person driving the truck, and slowed traffic to a crawl for several hours.
The incident happened at about 5 a.m. on August 29, according to the Los Angeles Times. California Highway Patrol officer Jason Tyhurst told the publication that the truck, which was traveling westbound, hit a car, swerved left, hit another car, went over the center divider and ended up in the median. It stopped before reaching the eastbound lanes but it spilled part of its load of tomatoes into oncoming traffic.
@ChpSolano is at a crash involving a big-rig hauling tomatoes that went through the center divide. Multiple lanes closed WB and EB on I-80 near Alamo in Vacaville. Please avoid the area and use alternate routes. Please drive safe pic.twitter.com/RR058UypVn
— CHP SOLANO (@ChpSolano) August 29, 2022
Law enforcement officers reported three injuries. The truck driver sustained "minor injuries" and "complained of pain," the Los Angeles Times reports, and two people in one of the cars hit by the semi were injured as well. One suffered a broken leg and the other "complained of pain." Local news channel ABC7 adds that four cars crashed into each other after driving through the spill and that three people were hospitalized.
The giant batch of tomato purée wreaked havoc on traffic. Tomato peels are slippery, so the California Highway Patrol closed several lanes in both directions to extract the truck from the median and clean up the mess. It also urged drivers to avoid the area and use alternate routes.
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