Overturned cement truck leaves mess on U.S. 95

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1999 | 11:39 a.m.

A Las Vegas man's 35th birthday got off to a disastrous start Monday when the cement truck he was driving flipped on U.S. 95., spilling its contents across southbound lanes.

Quentin Aspinall escaped injury in the 9:15 a.m. crash, which slowed traffic for more than four hours as clean-up crews and a crane moved in to clear the roadway.

Aspinall told authorities that he was heading south down the freeway's incline when a car veered into his path. Skid marks revealed that Aspinall hit his brakes while veering left, then overcorrected to the right when the truck flipped on its side.

Trooper Scott Flabi, spokesman for the Nevada Highway Patrol, said the driver of a 1998 Nissan Sentra was complaining of neck pains after the hood of her car was crushed by a bucket on the toppling Silver State Materials truck.

Investigators determined that Aspinall was driving approximately 65 mph when the accident happened -- the maximum speed for the 65-mph posted zone, "but just too fast for that situation," Flabi said.

Aspinall was handed a $95 citation for driving too fast for conditions as well as fined $150 for violating a provision of his class B commercial driver's license. Flabi said Aspinall's license permits him to drive an automatic rig, but the one he crashed has a manual transmission.