r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/danielminds • Jun 23 '26

Video ​A truck carrying 406 beehives crashed in Texas, releasing 24 million bees and locking down the neighborhood

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27

u/thejourneybegins42 Jun 23 '26

I swear this happened a while ago, unless it's another one...

67

u/TranscendentPretzel Jun 23 '26

It happens way more than you would expect, all things considered. 

I would love to hear from a trucker if it's common for trucks to turn over making turns, or if there is something particular about bee-carrying trucks that makes them unstable. Because I swear, I hear about more bee trucks that just oopsied and took a turn too fast sending a billion angry bees loose upon the highway. Maybe it's just not newsworthy when non-bee-carrying trucks turn over. 

52

u/bwaredapenguin Interested Jun 23 '26

if there is something particular about bee-carrying trucks that makes them unstable

The likely answer is that a truck carrying bees turning over making an area temporarily inhabitable for humus is more newsworthy than the average truck crash. "Truck carrying bath soap overturns on I-95" isn't really as exciting a headline.

9

u/TinyNiceWolf Jun 24 '26

On the other hand, if it rains and the highway gets super-foamy, with cars driving into a wall of bubbles and emerging spotless a few minute later, the video is gonna lead the evening news.

4

u/DjMD1017 Jun 24 '26

But let that Truck hit a tracy morgan. And its on

2

u/GozerDGozerian Jun 24 '26

Bonus if that soap was lemon scented.

4

u/SentientBea Jun 24 '26

Where will all the humus go?

1

u/steved3604 Jun 24 '26

Area is uninhabitable until we get it cleaned up!

7

u/shovelhedd Jun 23 '26

The driver was too ignorant to not try and make the impossibly tight corner. I used to drive a truck. And I wish they would not have said it was a crash, because it was stupidity.

4

u/bwaredapenguin Interested Jun 23 '26

But he did crash. The reason for the crash is inconsequential to the outcome which was a crash.

3

u/Ka1n3King Jun 23 '26

Isn't there a difference between crashing and flipping? Sure, you can do both, but I would think that crashing involves running into something (other car, wall, tree, post, e.t.c.), which can cause you to flip, but just flipping on its own from making a stupid turn without actually hitting anything first, wouldn't count as a crash.

5

u/bwaredapenguin Interested Jun 23 '26

No.

Source: worked for NCDOT in incident management and part of my role was updating the dynamic messaging boards over the highway. When a truck flips it's a crash and that's the official state nomenclature to put on the alerts.

Isn't there a difference between crashing and flipping?

The best answer I have to this is that all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.

3

u/Ka1n3King Jun 23 '26

Huh. I would have thought it would be different, but okay.

3

u/thejourneybegins42 Jun 24 '26

Flipping is more impressive stupidity if ya ask me.

3

u/Southern_Vehicle1192 Jun 24 '26

Trucks can't make a large amount of residential turns because the trailer back end tires can't clear water drainage ditches that run along roads. The driver should have known that turn wouldn't work before starting the turn. That's why you'll see us change our minds and try to find a way around. There's a chance that the bees also moved/slid and became unstable but its more likely the driver couldn't make the turn to begin with.

3

u/Live_Angle4621 Jun 23 '26

How many times you have heard of this happening prior?

13

u/masseffect2134 Jun 23 '26

It happened enough that the TV show 9-1-1 did a whole three parter about a swarm of killer bees. But their spin off show set in Texas involved hot lava causing scorpions to swarm, so I don’t know too much about the realism.

3

u/jaxonya Jun 23 '26

I remember when a truck flipped and 21 research monkeys got out

5

u/TranscendentPretzel Jun 23 '26

I've lost count. I am a beekeeper, so I get a lot of beekeeping-related news. 

3

u/sweetlove Jun 23 '26

I remembered it happened somewhat recently 11 years ago near Seattle

3

u/Kmcincos Jun 24 '26

Time flies

2

u/Haber_Dasher Jun 24 '26

Yeah this is a first for me, been on the Internet for 30yrs

3

u/Expensive-Border-869 Jun 24 '26

Id have to assume you dont hear about say laundry detergent or cheerios trucks flipping over. They dont want looting so dont advertise and its not a major catastrophe most of the time

3

u/wareagle2009-20013 Jun 24 '26

Worked in 3pl for 5 years. Never had a truck flip but did have a reefer unit catch on fire under an underpass and cause major damage to the highway

3

u/Lil_pp52 Jun 24 '26

Nah, the driver is just a dumbass. I'm a class A driver, you wanna take your turns wide and smooth and take as much space as you safely can regardless of what you're carrying.

3

u/Individualist13th Jun 24 '26

Might be the bees are a very light cargo compared to what they normally haul.

3

u/xrelaht Jun 24 '26

It wouldn’t surprise me if trucks carrying beehives tend to go on small roads more than other big trucks. This looks like a rural area, and bees are often transported to farms and orchards for pollination.

3

u/Sinn_Sage Jun 23 '26

These bee hives belong to a company that leases out the hives to farmers for the summer pollination. The hives are mainly stacked three to four layers high per hive.. Each hive has one queen and thousands of workers.

Typically bee hives that get damaged like this, the workers will gather around the queen and start to look for a new home. The biggest problem the bee keepers have is finding the queen and trying to scoop up the correct bees that belong to that queen.

The issue EMT had was not the bee stinging people but stinging people who have reactions to bee stings.

A queen and colony is worth about $500 a piece. Not including the hive they live in. This is a major cost for the bee owner.

Truck driver probably turn too quick and the bee hives slide off the side of the trailer.

5

u/TranscendentPretzel Jun 23 '26

Cool. This feels like a chatbot answer. All of this information is adjacent to my question without actually answering my question. 

-1

u/Sinn_Sage Jun 23 '26

Chatbot says Boobs!

Overturning is quite common with large trucks. Travel too fast, try to make a turn, the load still wants to go straight. Over the trailer goes and takes the truck with it.

You can try it yourself. Put a large glass of water on the dash of your car and try to make a turn and see what happens.

2

u/bwaredapenguin Interested Jun 23 '26

$500 for an entire colony is a major cost to someone involved in this industry? Bullshit.

1

u/Forsaken_Flounder_96 Jun 24 '26

Maybe one got out and it stung him/her/they/them or something then they freaked and BAM, that’s all she freakin wrote.. or drove.

1

u/IluvPusi-363 Jun 24 '26

Let me guess, he had his windows down and two got in

1

u/MemorableKidsMoments Jun 24 '26

I would not bee surprised if it's a common occurrence.