Four months later, details on viral tractor-trailer crash remain sparse

Back in September, in a viral moment that looked like it could have happened in a video game, a tractor-trailer’s empty bed mysteriously lifted up while in transit on Interstate 64 and crunched the overhead signs.

Morning traffic near the Henrico and New Kent County line came to a halt, and movement was shut down for hours. No injuries were reported.

A final accident report was finished sometime last year, but wasn’t released to the public. A Virginia State Police spokesperson said it's still not clear what happened.

“According to the final crash report, it is not clear if the driver accidentally hit the lever, raising the bed. He was charged with reckless driving,” wrote Matthew Demlein. 

The Department of Motor Vehicles denied The Richmonder’s Freedom of Information Act request for the report, citing Virginia state law.

“All records containing personal, driver or vehicle information are considered privileged," the email said.

With official avenues closed, The Richmonder turned to a professional truck driver for answers. 

What happened?

Derek Ridley has been driving trailers since 2000. 

“The thing I like most is dump trailers,” he said. 

Ridley said there are two parts that have to be engaged for the bed to lift. The Power Take Off button is different depending on the truck — one is a button on the dashboard, the other is a lever that looks sort of like a stick-shift. 

“It's right beside you, so you don't have to do a lot of fishing,” he said. “If you take your right arm and just basically drop it down to the seat right there, the whole control and everything is right here.”

Ridley offered two ways the trailer could’ve lifted up and demolished the highway signs. He said the driver most likely had a recent dump, but forgot to turn the PTO button off. 

“If you were going down the road or something and your lunch bag or something hit the lever, it's gonna light up while you're going down the road,” Ridley said. “My thing is, something had to happen to hit the button.”

There’s a locking mechanism on the lever, too. 

“Most of the time, you've gotta pull the lever up ... to make it go back, you know, to actually raise it," he said.

He added that the whole pump process to lift a tractor-trailer bed runs through the transmission. 

“The more gas you give it, the higher, the faster it goes up,” he said. “So when you engage it, it engages.”

Ridley said the sound alone should have been immediately noticeable. 

“Every stage that it hits, you're gonna feel a boom,” he said. “Boom, boom, until it's all the way to the end.”

Ridley said even though he can't know what happened on that day, he suspects the PTO button was left on, and the lever was accidentally pressed while on the highway.