We learned later that the articulated truck (the one closest to the camera here) was backing out of the factory driveway (you can see the front wheels turned). A car driver decided to come around the truck backing out, instead of waiting 30 seconds. The dump truck (the one buried in the houses) swerved to miss the car, somehow hit the articulated truck, and wound up hitting the houses.
That sign says the speed limit is 30 miles per hour (48kph), but it's a farce; drivers are routinely going 50, 60, and more down this road - particularly down, because the hill is rather steep. If that dump truck was full, and he was going too fast, there was no way he could stop in time.
Amazingly, no one was seriously injured or hurt. The driver of the dump truck went to the hospital with a minor head injury, but he was fine; no other hospitalizations, and no deaths. Most of the houses in that block were empty of people; one had people, but they were fine; some had pets, but they were all fine.
It did take nearly 12 months to rebuild nearly all of those houses, though; the last one (one in the middle) took closer to two years.
Glossop, 21 Oct 2008
