I was driving just south of Rolla one morning about 8 am and came around a corner and noticed a semi off on a side road that caught my attention. Upon closer inspection, the trailer of the semi had experienced a catastrophic structural failure: cause unknown.

A huge dent existed on the driver's side of the trailer, which might lead one to believe that the trailer had been hit. But, the roof the trailer had also experienced rather extreme damage as well, which might lead one to believe that a meteor from the heavens above crashed down on the trailer, much to the driver's fright. :)

When I got there, the semi tractor was running, and there were somewhat deep marks in gravel. Perhaps they had tried to haul something that weighed way too much, and the trailer crumpled in the center. That might explain why the back tires of the trailer were raised off of the ground.

What's the answer? Who knows? I thought it was definitely a sight that you don't get to see every day, though.

Then, later in the day, I was driving home from work in Champaign and was getting ready to go under a railroad bridge. An oncoming semi was too tall and ran into the bridge! It was probably six inches too tall, and when I passed, it had crumpled in three or four inches of the top of the trailer. It wasn't a good day for semis to be near me.