Almost 300,000 tomatoes were scattered along a Northern California interstate highway after a truck carrying them collided with a vehicle, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Highway Patrol officer Jason Tyhurst said the crash occurred at 5 a.m. along West Interstate 80 in Vacaville, about 35 miles west of Sacramento and 55 miles north of San Francisco.
Tyhurst told USA Today that a truck carrying 50,000 pounds of tomatoes collided with a vehicle and swerved, striking another vehicle before driving into the center median.
The hit was so strong that it spilled about three-quarters of the load onto the road, Tyhurst said. Passing vehicles grind them into a slimy pulp.
“People don’t realize how slippery the juice and skin of tomatoes are,” he said. “Once they hit the asphalt, it’s like ice,” he said.
A car traveling eastbound got stuck in the road and was struck by another vehicle, Tyhurst said. Another car traveling in the same direction struck both vehicles, he said, and another was struck from the side by another car that swerved.
In the end, seven cars were involved in the crash: three in the eastbound lanes, including the truck, and four on the west side.
Three people, including the truck driver, suffered minor injuries and one was hospitalized with a broken leg, Tyhurst said.
Police closed all lanes in both directions for several hours to clean up the mess.
“When we got things going, Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) came in and used a front-end loader and a sweeper,” Tyhurst said.
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