At 1 AM on 3/11/05, on I-35 near Austin, TX, a tractor trailer hit the concrete median with such force that it moved one of the concrete barriers into the lane of traffic, and dragged against the median for several hundred feet. The fuel tank on the truck caught fire and the truck disintegrated along the highway. The ensuing fire burned with such intensity that it melted the pavement. See news story.
The cause of the crash was not revealed in the news story, but it sure sounds like a fatigued truck driver falling asleep at the wheel. See Truck driver fatigue, and how the new rules do and don’t help.

The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a “SuperLawyer” in Atlanta Magazine and one of the “Legal Elite” in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks).