Transportation of hazardous cargo - How ready are you?

As India's highways develop rapidly, more and more transportation of hazardous chemicals take place on our highways. Many of you will agree that there is still a lot more to do to improve the safety while transporting hazardous cargo. 35 years ago, in the US, there was an accident involving a road tanker carrying liquid ammonia, which reportedly killed 7 persons. The cause of the accident was reported to be speeding, sloshing of the partially filled tanker, and inadequately designed guard rails. The lessons learnt from that accident are still valid today. A blog post mentions the following about the reasons for the accident:

• "The truck was driving at or near 53.6 mph when it took the curve taking it from the Loop to the Southwest Freeway. We’ll probably never know why Schmidt was speeding when he exited the Loop.
• Back then, barrier systems on routes that carry hazardous materials were not capable of redirecting vehicles that transport dangerous materials. The bridge rail at that stretch of road was more equipped to contain automobiles than trucks carrying hazardous cargo.
• The ramp where the crash occurred opened in 1963.
• Schmidt, who had been employed by Transportation Co. of Texas since 1975, had driven commercial vehicles since 1969. He had left Corpus Christi between 5 and 5:30 a.m. for the Tenneco plant and had made at least 10 trips to Houston carrying liquid loads.
• It’s said that this crash led to restrictions on the transportation of hazardous cargo through Houston, but that’s not necessarily the case. According to the NTSB report, the city had been using Loop 610 as a hazardous materials route since 1970."

Read about it in this link.