The northbound lane of highway 101 in South Sonoma County was blocked off today by road crews but this was not the usual traffic jam. The roads were blocked off due to the sea of apples that flowed out of the back of trucker Robert Urbin's Broadway Transportation truck.
The 24 full apple containers spilled out of the flatbed trailers when Urbin's said that heard a cable snap and the rear flatbed started "whipping" and scattering apples. The rolling apples then created a very sticky and goey mess. "We've got applesauce all over the highway," said CHP officer Wayne Ziese. Highway road crews cleaned up 10 tons of apples, the apples were along the side of the road for 200 to 300 feet.
When the accident happened, there was a mist in the air that made the roads rather slick and that added to the hazard after the apples spilled. It happened just south of Petaluma near Kastania Road, Ziese said.
Urbins said he was driving 55 mph, but he was given a traffic citation for the spilled load. That citation is likely to cost several hundred dollars.
No one was injured in the apple accident. That's according to Ziese. But he added that a motor home that was right behind the flatbed truck sustained minor damage.
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You've got the right idea, but think how much more interesting your lead would be if it started off with: A sea of apples blocked the northbound lane of highway 101 near Petaluma yesterday morning ...."
ReplyDeleteYour lead should be past tense ("yesterday"). It should be delayed ID; you can identify Urbins and his company in P2.
* when Urbins said (it's not possessive)
* make Ziese's quote a separate paragraph
* don't tell me that highway crews cleaned up the mess until you've told me where the apples went
P3: this is kind of late to be saying where it happened
Last graph: Cop out! You just pasted this directly from the fact sheet. Just say: No one was injured in the accident, Ziese said, but a motor home that was right behind the flatbed truck sustained minor damage.
20/25