The incident occurred Friday in Snowmass Canyon in Colorado when the family was returning from vacation. Murphy was knocked unconscious immediately and later declared deceased upon arrival at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs. He had been the vice president of corporate brand marketing for Sprint and a member of the marketing team associated with the Sprint NASCAR team. He's survived by his wife, Jennifer, and sons Ethan, 11, John, 8, and Thomas, 6, to whom we offer our condolences. [Kansas City Star via BoingBoing]

The driver reportedly took a wrong turn down a dead-end street in Racine, Wisconsin, necessitating a U-turn. While attempting the maneuver, the driver mistakenly hit the gas pedal rather than the brakes, sending the storied Wienermobile into a nearby house. (H/T To Chad!)
[via WITI-TV]

From our earlier report:

The accident occured around 8:15 PM when the tanker reportedly got tangled up with a car and another semi truck. The tanker ended up across the freeway underneath the 9 Mile road over pass where it exploded, sending a massive column of black smoke skyward. The fire went on for hours and, eventually, the newly finished bridge overhead collapsed. Amazingly, nobody was seriously injured in the incident.

[WXYZ]

The accident occured around 8:15 PM when the tanker reportedly got tangled up with a car and another semi truck. The tanker ended up across the freeway underneath the 9 Mile road over pass where it exploded, sending a massive column of black smoke skyward. The fire went on for hours and, eventually, the newly finished bridge overhead collapsed. Amazingly, nobody was seriously injured in the incident.

This morning, police have completely closed off both sides of the freeway and blockaded 9 Mile Road while officials investigate the crash and assess the damage. An entire two mile section of freeway is expected to be closed for months while the cleanup and reconstruction occur.

Details are sketchy at this point, but reports say that the tanker truck (not known at this time what exactly it was carrying) hit the top of the bridge causing the explosion. Several other semi trucks were traveling along side as well as a few passenger cars. At this time there are no reported deaths or injuries.

According to witnesses on the scene, the recently completed Nine Mile Rd overpass collapsed over the I-75 northbound lane directly after the explosion which occurred around 8:15 pm. [via WXYZ]

The roof the roof the roof is on fire
The roof the roof the roof is on fire
The roof the roof the roof is on fire
We don't need no water let the mother f**ker burn
Burn mother f**ker burn

[via BBCNews]

The fire happened yesterday, when two men were apparently out test-driving the car and had to bail when they notice smoke billowing from the engine bay. They called fire fighters and attempted to put the car out with a hand held extinguisher, but the car burned to the ground. Adding insult to injury, the pair stopped outside a line of bars and the inferno drew a crowd of about 150, all recording the blaze for posterity with their cell phones.

Considering this kind of thing is becoming strangely common in the world of Lamborghinis, we're wondering if this is some kind of planned obsolescence program to insure continued super car sales.

Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Credit goes to the search-and-rescue crews who worked through 100-degree heat yesterday afternoon, the all through the night, in a still-collapsing garage. In fact, while searching for individuals, they were simultaneously propping up the four levels of the parking deck that imploded in on itself. At the moment, as they're still in the S&R portion of the recovery, they've yet to determine the cause of the accident. [Atlanta Journal Constitution, WSBTV]

Roy Lucke, senior scientist at Northwestern's Center for Public Safety, says "This is one of the most off-the-wall things I've ever read, but the science is good." The researchers behind the study cite causes for the mortality rise to people rushing to get to polling places with which they may not be familiar, often in the dark before or after work. The moral? Get out and vote, but do it during daylight hours and make sure you're driving a huge SUV so you're protected. [MSNBC]

Us? We've lost a few. One that sticks in our minds was an RX-7 Turbo T-boned into a Supra (the Supra's fault). As I kicked the door open on the Mazda and stepped down from significantly higher up than I remembered the car sitting before, I knew it was a goner. Was it a particularly special car? No, but watching its fluids leak slowly into the storm gutter and knowing it would never run again set off a pang of emotion that I remember to this day. The whiplash sucked too...

Speaking to a local news station, Rich described the loss, "Oh, God, I loved this thing. I've owned a Corvette since 1972. My heart is broken, it's just...I want another one." Ray paid about $27,000 for the car, investing a further $25,000 in restoring it. The work he was completing earlier in the day was the final stage of that restoration. Because Rich wasn't currently driving the car, it was uninsured. Rich, our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies go out to you. We tip an oil can in your poor car's honor. [via Corvette Blogger]

Nobody seems to have been hurt here, but there are definitely some bruised egos. It's worth the trip over to the BBC website to check out the video, as it's rife with funny British words and pronunciations like "sa-LEE-ka," talk of bonnets, and amusing Irish accents. We're going to hell, we know. [BBC]