Speeding, overloaded truck caused fatal Nanchang accident, probe finds

The fatal road accident that killed 20 and injured 19 in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, on Jan 8 was caused by a speeding and overloaded truck, according to the official investigation report released on Saturday morning.

The probe found that the driver of the severely overloaded heavy-duty semi-trailer tractor was speeding and was unable to take effective safety measures when he encountered a group of people who were holding a funeral procession on the road. At the same time, the smoke from burning paper money and firecrackers during the funeral activity also affected the driver's visibility.

The accident happened at around 12:50 am on Jan 8 on a highway in Youlan township in Nanchang county of Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, in eastern China.

After the accident, the Jiangxi Provincial Government established the Jan 8 major road traffic accident investigation team. The report shows that the truck was carrying 79,980 kg of gravel when the accident happened, while its maximum allowed weight was 49,000 kg. And the truck had 12 overloading records in the previous 20 days of the accident.

In order to carry more goods, the owner of the truck, surnamed Xu, installed a fence on the railing of the truck's cargo compartment in Leping city on December 26, 2022.

The fence exceeded the height of the truck compartment by about 300 mm. Forensic identification by the Jiangxi Shenzhou Judicial Identification Center found that the blood sample of the driver surnamed Cheng did not contain ethanol, and the combined detection reagents for morphine, methamphetamine, and ketamine in his urine sample were all negative.

The investigation team recommended that the driver of the vehicle responsible for the accident, the owner of the vehicle responsible for the accident, and the direct manager of the vehicle responsible for the accident should be held criminally responsible.