Freak Accident... Truckers beware!!!

[DWeiler]

About 15 years ago i was traveling behind a semi with a empty flat deck in my company Chevy cube and he forgot to fasten down a 4ft piece of 2x4. It hit me square in the windshield at 70+MPH,i ducked and had some minute piece of glass on me---the windshield was shattered/small puncture,looked like a spider web. I flagged him down and he was more than happy to pay for the damages and was "really sorry",maybe because we were both headed towards the D. O. T inspection station/scale a few miles up the road and i may have to report it---I think first offense for un-secure load is 1000. 00 up here,i headed back to work for another vehicle and he later had a cheque dropped off to more than cover the costs,never heard from him again. DW

 

[MMeier]

He was permitted for 14'9", was on his prescribed route, looks like TXDOT has some explaining to do.

 

[RVTRKN]

He was permitted for 14'9", was on his prescribed route, looks like TXDOT has some explaining to do.

Hopefully he is found not to be liable, but I think they will go after him because of the death and driver beware theory.

 

[DonTX]

Well, I am mostly from another generation, but in my CDL haulin days, if a driver put his load in such a situation, it was simply HIS fault. When hauling a load of such height, you should be looking VERY carefully for signs, and even stopping to check clearance if in doubt.

I hauled house trailers for years, and often was routed to places that did not have width or turning capacity for the load, it was MY responsibility to remove traffic signs or obstacles that impeded my movenent. .

 

[HBarlow]

It's a sad story with many losers and no winners.



Victims husband and children lost their wife and mother, etc.



The company that insures ACE, the company the driver was reportedly leased to has probably already offered the policy limit ($1M) to the victim's husband.



The ambulance chasers are probably calling him night and day and knocking on his door offering to rip somone off or sue someone, depending on perspective.



The bureaucrats at TXDOT and their lawyers are probably huddled behind closed doors trying to figure out who's going to end up holding the bag or how to shift the blame and skate.



Sad.



Harvey

 

[CUMMINZ]

He could have put the pedal to the metal and wished for the best:-laf

 

[EB]

Hmmm. This is getting more complicated.



The driver appears to be legal and leased to Ace Transportation. TXDOT issued him a permit allowing maximum height of 14' 9" and he followed his permitted route.



Ultimately, the poor driver caused the crash and resulting death but TXDOT seems to have played a role and should share responsibility.



It would be interesting to learn how this all plays out . . . in the courts I would expect.



Harvey

The only problem is, on the permit, you will find the words "drivers responsibly". I've pulled a number of permitted loads and those words are on the permit. In the end, it will be the drivers fault, rightly or wrongly. To bad, but that is the way it will end up. No matter what happens, that lady is still dead. Ace Transportation will end up paying a bunch, and the driver may end up going to jail.

 

[JGrefenstette]

last summer at work (john deere), me and a fellow employee had to drive an hour south of our shop to deliver a bran-new MoCo (mower-conditioner, cuts and rakes hay) and pick up an older model to take to the scrap yard.



we were in an older International roleback, DT466, i believe the bed is 20-22+ feet... . anyhow, the new MoCo had a design that allowed us to carry it so that it fit within the paramaters of the trucks profile. the old one how ever (i cant recall the exact demensions) was 10-12 feet wide? and had a toung that came up around the side and towards the front, to be attached to the tractor pulling it. well the toung was so long that we had to put that part lenth ways on the truck, leaving the width of the machine sidways on the truck. our driver side had a few feet over hang, and our passenger side had..... lets just say more than the driverside. but mind you, it was nothing unsafe to the other drivers on the road. we had it secured very well. the guy i was with, who was driving, is an old time truck driver who respectably takes a VERY long time to secure any load.



to make a long story short, i had a bad feeling about the overhang on the passenger side. it would grab branches ever couple of minutes. nothing to serious tho. we were on very windy mountain town roads the whole way. as we neered town, there is one sharp right hand turn at the bottom of a hile, road narrows... . there is a HUGE old oak tree on the right shoulder, right at the edge of the pavment. as we near the curve, 2-3 three oncoming pick-ups hug the yellow line, i clenched... ... ... ... WHAAAMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!! the MoCo made direct contact with the center of the tree @ 30-40 mph. by the Grace of God the oncoming traffic had gotten past us! the MoCo came off the truck, snapping more than 4 chains and binders and the winch built into the bed. it swung through both lanes gouging a lot of asphat from the oncoming lane. the impact hurt for us in the cab as we came to an almost imideat hult.



one thing that was very peculiar... . one of the snapped chains got wrapped around one of the rear dual wheels, and stalled the motor. half of the chain was still on the bed and the other half was wrapped around the wheel.



moral of the story... ... ... . ACCIDENTS HAPPEN!!! and by the Grace of God only, us and those around us make it out unharmed. however in unfotunate cases like the one posted, not everyone lives to tell about it... .



our prayers are with the ones who suffered a loss.

"God only cries for the living, cause its the living that are left to carry on. "-DiamondRio

 

[OL RATLR]

Commercial Drivers, that is those for hire and carry a CDL are required to understand the height of their load and are TAUGHT not to go under a bridge or trestle that is not marked...



If we send someone out on a local delivery we make sure they understand the height of their load... ... .



Even though the bridge was not marked it's still the drivers fault by every standard I've ever seen... hope his insurance is paid up...

Jim is right. I drove a Semi 43 years and have had police lead me to a low under pass and go through expecting me to follow but I didn't. You have to

stop look and beware of the height of your load.

 

[HBarlow]

A local friend of mine has sold Chevy trucks for longer than I've known him but tells a story of his former life (when he was young) when he drove a truck for several years.



He said he was driving in the Houston area one day, following a car transporter with a load of new cars. The driver in front of him drove his load of shiny new cars under a low bridge and raked the top cars off onto the roadway, destroyed off course. My friend said he was able to make a panic stop without hitting them and got out to talk with the poor transporter driver. He said the transporter told him he wouldn't even be allowed to enter the cab of the truck he was driving again. He said he was fired the moment it happened and he'd be taking a bus home then looking for another trucking job.



Most of us don't know how tough the rules are on a CDL driver.



Harvey

 

[proflow]

Sad thing is, anybody can have a good day or bad day in court, right or wrong---Proflow

 

[JasonCzerak]

JD buddy, I'd say you need to get a life. First your "Lighter" thread yesterday and today your saying a 30 year old mother of 2 kids deserves to get killed because she "shouldn't have been tailgating. "



Maybe you missed this part, let me display it for you again...





I don't know about anybody else but as far as I'm concerned, you're not welcome around here.



Scott

Tho he was dead wrong and should of read the article before opening his mouth/reply window as to the tailgating vs westbound travel.



Lets assume for giggles she was tailgating? following so close you can't see the hood of the car behind you! Would you imply that just cuz she is a mother of two vs say, pot smoking junkie with no kids should be relieved of her duty to take responsibility for their own actions by tailgating a truck and getting killed? If she was maybe 100 feet back and it got knocked off, she would of hit it dead on and not have fallen on top of her (assuming it came straight back and she was tailgating).



Now, in this case, she just had bad luck. I do feel sorry for this woman. Tho, if it was typical tail grater, I wouldn't give a rats butt.



As far as a low bridge, private property or not, the farking city has to approve structures and safety of the structures wither it's your house or a bridge. Sue the city, become the mayor!

 

[HBarlow]

... ... ... . Lets assume for giggles she was tailgating? following so close you can't see the hood of the car behind you! Would you imply that just cuz she is a mother of two vs say, pot smoking junkie with no kids should be relieved of her duty to take responsibility for their own actions by tailgating a truck and getting killed? If she was maybe 100 feet back and it got knocked off, she would of hit it dead on and not have fallen on top of her (assuming it came straight back and she was tailgating)... ... ... ...

A good point! None of us were there and none of us has access to the accident investigator's findings so we don't know the facts or who contributed to the accident.



I find that women are often the rudest, most aggressive drivers on the roads now. I walk across Wal-Mart parking lots in fear of my life. Women will climb in their SUVs and roar past me at 20, even 30mph within arms length, often talking on their cursed cell phones, as if I'm not even there.



Since the feminist political movement that began in the '60s it is hard to respect and defer to women as he weaker sex, deserving of respect and special treatment.



Sorry, I guess I got off topic here but Jason, you made a good point.



Harvey

 

[JasonCzerak]

A good point! None of us were there and none of us has access to the accident investigator's findings so we don't know the facts or who contributed to the accident.



I find that women are often the rudest, most aggressive drivers on the roads now. I walk across Wal-Mart parking lots in fear of my life. Women will climb in their SUVs and roar past me at 20, even 30mph within arms length, often talking on their cursed cell phones, as if I'm not even there.



Since the feminist political movement that began in the '60s it is hard to respect and defer to women as he weaker sex, deserving of respect and special treatment.



Sorry, I guess I got off topic here but Jason, you made a good point.



Harvey

I was putzing in the right lane the other day and noticed in my mirror and aggressive lane change. This SUV come out of the right lane, to the middle cuts me off. Gets 4 cars closer to the exit (way to go!). So I hold my ground right on the butt of this idiot and I notice SUV #2 do the same thing (same color, same plastic dealership plate), this dumb female $#@$#@ puts on her blinker and starts to attempt to push me outa the way. Makes jesters like "hey, I gota get in here!" ! I held my ground, hit the horns and signaled she's #1. The idiotic (male) drive behind me actually backed off to let her merged in. . seconds later they both exit. I should of slowed down with this moron driver and not allowed her to merge back into the right lane out of well, to make my point about you're not the only one on the road. But it was one of them after thoughts.



ok, my off topic rant is over.

 

[bigkid59]

Well, it just continues! The railroad overpass I talked about early in this discussion has been hit a few more times.

It was hit last Sunday but I don't know anything about who did it but it was a reefer trailer and it hit hard enough to peel the roof off and drop the rear doors on the road.

It was hit again the next day, Monday. This time it was a truck owned by one of the major truck lines. It was carrying a load of small engines and the trailer broke in half. The hit occured about 8:00AM and it took until about 1:30PM to load the cargo into another truck and clear the area. And, guess what, the driver had a very mid-eastern sounding name and was carrying an illegal drivers license. How are people getting away with this, especially with the post 9 11 emphasis on homeland security? What type of company is hiring these people?

These are the latest two hits on this overpass. There have been a few others since my first post, but these two in two days really shows that these drivers have no business driving on public roads endangering the public. I also found out that the $10,000 cost charged in each of these hits is just what the city charges. I have heard that the reinspection and recertification of the overpass are in addition to this.

 

[dodgeguy44]

Accidents like these should never happen but inexperience and pushy shippers, receivers, and dispatchers all add to the problem.



If I only would have had a Video camera on my dash all the years I drove trucks... ... ... ... . well, the Cops wouldn't believe what was taped, 'cause I couldn't believe what was happening in front of me! Cars, pickups and big trucks alike.