Semi rolls in Washington State and spills 14 million bees

A semi full of bees wrecked on Interstate 5 this morning. With all the bees dying off lately, this seems bad.

A semitruck rolled early Friday, spilling a load of honeybees on the Interstate 5 median at the Interstate 405 interchange near Lynnwood.

The driver of the truck was not injured in the crash.

Beekeepers were on site within an hour of the 3:30 a.m. wreck to round up the honeybees, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

As temperatures warmed and the bees became more agitated, firefighters sprayed a mixture of foam and water on the hives to kill some of the bees. Television reporters swatted at swarms of the insects surrounding their cameras and clumps of bee carcasses littered the roadway.

The most concerning thing aside from how they are rounding them up by killing them is that the accident isn't a mistake a qualified driver would make usually, and this is not the first time this has happened.

Lewis said the truck was exiting I-405 northbound when the 36-year-old driver from Idaho lost control, hit a guardrail and spilled the bee boxes. The overturned truck’s front-left axle and wheel were mangled in the wreck...

...The truck held 458 hives with as many as 14 million bees, Leary said...
...Thompson said eight company employees, outfitted with beekeeping gear, helped responders at the scene.
“We saved 128 hives before the sun came up and it got too nice,” he said.

This accounted for about ten percent of this companies' 8000 hives and most of them were destroyed. If this same thing hadn't happened four years ago I wouldn't suspect something odd. They are already dying off in droves and the only people that stand to benefit from a decline in bees are GMO manufacturers. Just some conspiratorial food for thought.

This is an ATS post on it from four years ago. The best part? It happened in Idaho, which is where the driver in this is from...

Bees Dying Off, Bee Truck Crashes and our future...

And here is the source article.

Seattle Times Article

a reply to: Jekka

Wow that's a lot of bees!!!!

I keep hearing of bees dying off but it doesn't seem to be a problem in the Phoenix area.

Almost every day there is a story of someone being attacked by bees. I'm sure it has something to do with the warm climate but we have a lot of bees down here.

If I were on that highway, and came upon 14 million bees, I would be flooring it in the opposite direction. Hell. No.

a reply to: Jekka

Not a mistake that qualified drivers would make? Do you know how many drivers that have driven 20 years have roll over accidents? You have no idea the circumstances of the accident so you can't say that for sure.

I bet that caused a real Buzz ... ha ha

The bee die-off is a misnomer when concerning honeybees in north America. First of all... honeybees are not native to NA so while their populations have been suffering, plagued with mites and other problems, they are not meant to be here... nor are our vast crops needing fertilization. There are issues with various chemicals affecting all bees, including the many very important but virtually unknown species of bees native to NA.

As far as these numbers, a queen honeybee can lay upward to 2000 eggs a day at peak of the season. Honeybees only live about 21 days (except the queen who overwinters a couple years) but the life cycle being so fast means this is no major loss... well it is to the company that owned them but not in the overall picture.

Not trying to be negative here but its an important distinction to make.

...And says, honey I'm home!


Sorry. It felt right.


That is a massive amount of Bees..

I first read the title as "Semi rolls in Washington State and spills 14 million beers."

I was thinking "Oh the humanity!!!!"

Bees? Eh... little stabby bastards get no love from me. I know they're important to the ecosystem and they make delicious honey but they're still assholes.

Pretty sad poor things are gonna be so confused and lost. Hope they were mostly contained.

I accidentally started a thread on this too, as I'm to lazy to search.

This happened a stones throw away from me. I'm so scared.



I asked in the other thread (that will most likely be deleted soon) if people think I'll be noticing a bunch of bees. Anyone have any thoughts?

That corner the truck tipped on is pretty deceptive. The apex is a lot sharper than you think when you are first exiting. I've seen a number of people take it too fast. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what happened with the semi.

originally posted by: Answer
I first read the title as "Semi rolls in Washington State and spills 14 million beers."

I was thinking "Oh the humanity!!!!"

Bees? Eh... little stabby bastards get no love from me. I know they're important to the ecosystem and they make delicious honey but they're still assholes.

They land on me all the time. I have never had a bee sting in my whole life. I like bees.

So there.

originally posted by: redhorse

originally posted by: Answer
I first read the title as "Semi rolls in Washington State and spills 14 million beers."

I was thinking "Oh the humanity!!!!"

Bees? Eh... little stabby bastards get no love from me. I know they're important to the ecosystem and they make delicious honey but they're still assholes.

They land on me all the time. I have never had a bee sting in my whole life. I like bees.

So there.

6 months ago, I was minding my own business and got stung by two of them.

originally posted by: Answer

originally posted by: redhorse

originally posted by: Answer
I first read the title as "Semi rolls in Washington State and spills 14 million beers."

I was thinking "Oh the humanity!!!!"

Bees? Eh... little stabby bastards get no love from me. I know they're important to the ecosystem and they make delicious honey but they're still assholes.

They land on me all the time. I have never had a bee sting in my whole life. I like bees.

So there.

6 months ago, I was minding my own business and got stung by two of them.

I could see how that might bias one a bit. My condolences.

Bees are all right. I've only been stung by a bee once, when I accidentally stepped on one while barefoot. Can't blame him for being surprised and stinging me, though. I practically had my face in these bees and wasn't stung a single time - and while wearing no protective clothing other than cutoff jeans and a t-shirt:

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Jekka

Not a mistake that qualified drivers would make? Do you know how many drivers that have driven 20 years have roll over accidents? You have no idea the circumstances of the accident so you can't say that for sure.

I agree, Zaphod.

There isn't always a conspiracy at play when something like this, an accident, happens. It's unfortunate because the honey bee die off is a very real problem. However, people have car, bike, truck, tractor trailer, motorcycle and work accidents all day, everyday. Humans make mistakes. A lot.

Now had the wreck occurred and NO ONE did anything to save any of the hives? Then maybe I would agree that there is a possible "conspiracy" angle, but that is not what happened here.

originally posted by: redhorse

originally posted by: Answer

originally posted by: redhorse

originally posted by: Answer
I first read the title as "Semi rolls in Washington State and spills 14 million beers."

I was thinking "Oh the humanity!!!!"

Bees? Eh... little stabby bastards get no love from me. I know they're important to the ecosystem and they make delicious honey but they're still assholes.

They land on me all the time. I have never had a bee sting in my whole life. I like bees.

So there.

6 months ago, I was minding my own business and got stung by two of them.

I could see how that might bias one a bit. My condolences.

I don't wish death on them because they're so important, I just wish they would relax with all the stinging.

Wasps on the other hand... they get a hefty dose of spray every time.

By the way, if you think there may be a bee hive in the area, DO NOT use paint thinner. Apparently, the little jerks attack anyone in the vicinity of paint thinner fumes.

(big grin)

My brothers and I had a "bee-truck accident" once when we were in high school.

We were transporting about a dozen hives on the big truck from a relative's farm back to ours. It was a nice warm spring day. We cut through town to save some time.

On the way through, we saw some of the townies lounging around in front of a sort of disreputable bar. As we came up to the stop sign in front, Dan (next older bro) tapped the brake a couple of times real sharply, and started giggling. It took me a minute to figure out why - then everyone in front of the bar started doing the safety dance and milling in circles.

Ah. It was one of those moments that lives in your memory forever.

I heard about this from two of my coworkers today over group chat as I was southbound on I-5 as they got stuck in this bee crash traffic.

I wonder what exactly happens to those destroyed hives? I mean there's likely several hundred hives, each with a queen and hundreds of workers for each. But toss that all out on a road doing 60 mph and it's a good percentage killed off and everyone who survives is confused and disoriented.

If a queen survives, can a hive rebuild elsewhere?

a reply to: Aliquandro

Yes. As long as there is a queen, the workers will follow her. The hives that lost the Queen interestingly may have a worker start laying eggs, and they'll grow several of them into Queen larva.

Not to worry. They sent a competent clean-up crew.