I 70 truck crash


Just keep it clean please....

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5171

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Fri May 03, 2019 1:56 pm

I 70 truck crash

Colorado Truck Crash


Just read that the driver is facing 40 counts. Most will likely not stick, but at least 4 for homicide should. No where in any of the reporting do I see the name of the company he drove for. They should be named and held responsible for their part in it. I’m sure the Tort lawyers will go after them, but some criminal culpability should lie at the company level as well.

At 23 years old, by law, the driver can have no more than 2 years OTR experience. It may have been his first crossing on I 70. Not making excuses, just pointing out facts. Big trucking companies want to relax rules on training, and push recruits through as fast as possible, then put them out with a “trainer” who may have no more experience than the driver in this case.

Like auto’s, trucks have become more “self driving”, with auto or automated transmissions and retarders, auto adjusting brakes etc. Very few young drivers would know how to adjust a manual slack adjuster, and most companies wouldn’t want them to try. If you don’t know how to maintain brakes, how the heck are you going to know how to assess if something isn’t right?
All this removes driver awareness from the risks the job entails. When I started, the rule was descend the grade in the gear you went up, later as truck became more powerful and aerodynamic, that wasn’t good enough, often you need to descend slower than you climbed.
Descending grades can be tricky, especially if you don’t know the road. If you start down too fast, there is a very small window to correct your error. The faster you start the less chance that you can correct it. It is why there are signs with the recommended safe speed for trucks. I suspect this driver passed the point of no return long before he was aware of it.
A real experienced driver will attempt to set his speed at the top of a grade, such that the engine and (if equipped) retarder will hold the trucks speed all the way to the bottom without application of the service brakes. Not only is this safe, it cuts on maintaince cost, requiring few brake replacements. It leaves the service brakes cool and ready should there be a need to stop before the bottom.
Reports suggest he was already in trouble way before the truck escape ramp. Even if there were no other vehicles on the road, if he past that ramp at speed, it is unlikely that truck and trailer could have handled the curves further down. It is hard to know what a “brain sees” in a panic, perhaps he didn’t see the escape ramp, perhaps he didn’t trust it. Both rookie mistakes, which cost lives. I have read that no truck, that has entered an escape ramp square and stayed in the ramp, has resulted in a fatality, even at speeds close to 100 mph. I will also say, in no safety meeting at any trucking company I have been associated with, were we told “don’t risk it, if you have any question at all, take the escape ramp”. It was never discussed.
In this case, the back-up occurred and one of the worse places, right at the end of the grade, still everyone else managed to get stopped.
The age of truck drivers is a reverse bell curve, with the vast majority over 50 and the next big group under 30. As experience “age out” of the job, who will train the new hire’s? We have the inexperienced training the no experianced. Not a good system.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Fri May 03, 2019 4:30 pm

Re: I 70 truck crash

There is The Highway Through Hell reality TV show about the towing and wreck recovery in our infamous Coquahalla Highway, high mountain pass. I think this show is as real as it can get. I have driven the Coq. many times and there is almost always a wreck and always burned pavement signaling the end of a mistake.
The speed limit in the pass is 120kmh. This limit can change in seconds with the electronic speed signs displaying reduced speed limits.
My limited observation/experience has been old grey hairs driving the big trucks at low downhill speeds and the newer drivers going way over the speed limits. It is common to have a tractor and two trailers passing on a downhill section. I drive, nervously, at the posted speed and when 100,000 pounds passes me, I slow way down to let the speeding truck pass. I do not want to be part of the problem when the speeder crashes.
For some of these reckless drivers snow on the road does not switch on the caution button in their brains. Snow tires and or chains is the law when condition and the calendar suggest. The news reports the police issuing hundreds of tickets for traction violations. Trucks must chain up is ignored all too often.
There is enough carnage on the Coquahalla to keep several tow companies employed full time. It started out with Jamie Davis Towing and soon he was overwhelmed by the volume of work.
The news reported that the police had chased a Ferrari driver at speed approaching 200kmh through the Coquahalla. The driver was intercepted at Hope, BC by waiting police. Here is the WTF. The Ferrari was being driven with the lights off and the driver was wearing night vision.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5171

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Fri May 03, 2019 5:16 pm

Re: I 70 truck crash

The few time I have seen H thru H on TV, the ones that cause the problems either haven't chained or didn't fully chain.
I carry one pair of "three railers" (chains that cover both tire in a dual tire set-up) year around. In the winter months I have 2 pairs of three railers and two pairs of single chains.
If I used all the chain I carry, I would have all 10 tires on the tractor plus 2 tires on the trailer. Only once have I done this, but I have.

I also carry at least one replacement cross link assembly and two side link to repair a chain break.
I have only purchased one set of three railers and one set of singles, the rest (and I have many more sets then I carry on the truck) have been found in truckstops in snow banks or tossed off the truck by a driver.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:50 pm

Location: Northern New Mexico

Post Sat May 04, 2019 8:57 am

Re: I 70 truck crash

Terrible accident! Not being part of the industry this thread helps me to better under understand what went wrong. I do a lot of motorcycle travel in the Colorado Rockies in the summer and go over quite a few high passes and see a number or run away truck ramps. The one on Wolf Creek pass really stands out in my mind and I always imagine what it would be like to lose the brakes coming down the west side of the pass and having to use that ramp!
56 S120 4x4,

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5171

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Thu May 09, 2019 8:08 pm

Re: I 70 truck crash

Almost had my version of this accident today. I was on US 20 just outside of Merriman NE when a drunk on a lawnmower drove out of a side street right in front of my truck. I had to stand on the brakes, and the load shifted about 1 ft forward. It was a load of economy 2x4's, these are the type that has a lot of voids and half rounds in the stack. No matter how tight they band them or you strap them, they will move on an emergency brake application. Going to make it hard to off load, but it all stayed on the trailer.
For those who live in cities, in the rural areas when a drunk driver looses his licenses (and chooses not to just drive anyway) they often ride on lawnmowers like a car. While they can do less damage today shows why they are still a menace. His dog (who was trotting along with him) was smart enough to look and stop when he reached the highway. My nerves are shot! I didn't even have time to reach for the air horn lanyard, it all happened so fast.

Site Admin
Site Admin

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Location: Nampa, Idaho

Post Fri May 10, 2019 10:03 am

Re: I 70 truck crash

Glad that you were able to stop in time, maybe it will penetrate his thick skull that he could have died. It is a horrible thing to live with, the death of someone else, even when it is not your fault. Sir, my hat is off to you for your skills and because you maintain your rigs in top shape.

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