Oct. 24, 2016 – Allenton, WI – The Washington County Sheriff’s Office investigated an accident last Thursday, Oct. 21 at 7:11 p.m. involving a semi-tractor that was being towed to a local repair facility.
A heavy duty tow truck was towing a disabled semi southbound on County Trunk W when the towed semi began to fishtail near the Limestone Creek Bridge south of Allenton.
The towed semi, being pulled from behind, entered the west ditch for approximately 100 yards then crossed both lanes of traffic and entered the east ditch for about another 100 yards.
The towed semi then crossed both lanes of traffic again and entered the west ditch.
According to investigators, the fishtail became unrecoverable and the towed semi began to turn on its side in the west ditch before the tow truck operator could stop.
The road had partial lane closures for about 1.5 hours to facilitate clean-up operations.
The investigation suggests a contributing factor in the accident was a strap used to keep the steering wheel in place in the towed unit became dislodged which caused the towed semi to start to fishtail.