Freak fatal accident

[kozmic]

Not too far from us last evening a guy was driving on a moderately traveled, 2 lane road (35 mph speed limit) when a truck traveling in the opposite lost it's load of lumber and piece of wood crashed through his windshield killing him.

If both were doing the speed limit that means each vehicle was traveling 51 feet per second so cumulatively they were putting 102 feet between each other every second. I'm sure that 102 feet either way would have made a difference in the outcome.

It amazes me that a fraction of a second can have such devastating, sometimes life and death results. Had either of these individuals' lives changed by one second yesterday the outcome could have been completely different. If one had stopped to tie their shoe or paused a bit longer (or less) at a stop sign or took a moment to pet their dog or hug a loved one or whatever!

Freak accidents like this make me reflect on how little control we have over everything around us. Including our own destiny! I'm going to spend a bit more time giving out hugs and hope that I've calculated my time correctly. The rest is out of my hands.

I not going to comment on whether the truck driver should have been ticketed or not. That is up to the authorities. The complete circumstances of the accident have not been made public yet so conjecture at this point is unproductive.

I did spend time this morning re-instructing my crew on how to properly secure a load and to travel as safely as possible.

Fatal crash on Rush Scottsville Road in Rush - Local News - Rochester, NY | NBC News

 

[arjay]

I'm seeing more junk flying out of trucks around here.Some years ago I was following a small pickup carrying a roll of carpet extending over the cab (I was on my bike).As we got out of town and picked up speed, it started to flex and I realized it was tied with twine! I backed off as fast as I could,but it came flying so fast I had to go for the left lane.Lucky for me the guy coming at me was paying attention.

 

[S&WForty]

Everyone is familiar with the saying "that must be a Monday or Friday car" when describing a lemon with a lot of problems. IMO, in today's Attention Deficit Disorder society where everyone is either texting every other minute or daydreaming about the next piece of ___ they are gonna get, it stands to reason more stuff is going to fall off of trucks, vans, etc. People are stupid Monday *through* Friday. People's brains ain't what they used to be, and what little brains they have are working on overload. *

Moral of the story: I've been watching loads like a hawk for years, and I keep a safe distance or get around them asap.

* Yes, I'm judgmental and paranoid. I'd have it no other way.

 

[A10]

Nothing freak about it, that fatality was completely preventable. The driver of the car did not have any control over the situation and was a victim of a thoughtless and uncaring truck driver. Loads should not escape from a truck, pure and simple. Somebody did not inspect their load before they left or they failed to notice the load shifting as they travelled. Absolutely inexcuseable, and the driver should be brought up on negligent homocide charges.

 

[M29since14]

With do-it-yourself projects of all types being more popular every day, there are lots of improperly secured loads going down the road. I have told my kids (both fairly young, inexperienced drivers) to always monitor loads of other drivers and to take action immediately if something looks unsafe. If it looks unsafe, it probably is. Get away from it.

 

[the ringo kid]

I see loads of trucks in my area on their way to the local dump. These trucks and such are always well-over-loaded with branches and limbs sticking out all over the place making the truck look like a Porcupine. Most of the time--definitely not well secured and they are always losing debris. VERY few times, the driver will stop and pick up what they lost--VERY few times.

If you want to know what my peeve is? its something like the above.

 

[Doug M.]

A10 nailed it. We have had some pretty bad wrecks of that nature here that resulted in changed statutes. It is the operator of the vehicle with the load who is responsible for securing it.

 

[M&P Freak]

Many years ago a similar accident occurred along a very straight stretch of highway near me, where a logging truck lost a log and it went head-on into a small car. No other cars on the road, no turns, no reason other than timing. It was a large log and the three people in the small car had no chance. Freaky.

 

[jaykellogg]

Most every state has some charge like "failure to secure your load". There could be much more severe charges as this trucker's failure to secure his load caused a fatality.

My neighbor in PA was a road warrior. He drove 50,000 miles a year. One time he bought a Model A roadster in Indiana and loaded it on a trailer behind his company car. The trunk lid wasn't secured on the Model A and it flew off and went through the windshield of a car coming the opposite direction. The man's family was showered with bits of broken windshield, but there was no damage beyond the windshield and no one was hurt. Both parties were lucky and my neighbor paid for the windshield out of his pocket because he didn't want to alert the company he was using the car to tow another car. He was ticketed for failure to secure a load.

 

[A10]

Many years ago a similar accident occurred along a very straight stretch of highway near me, where a logging truck lost a log and it went head-on into a small car. No other cars on the road, no turns, no reason other than timing. It was a large log and the three people in the small car had no chance. Freaky.

No reason at all for a logger to loose a log. There are requirements for properly loading and securing logs that are VERY clearly spelled out. Best practices exist for the log truck drivers to stop and inspect their wrappers at regular intervals. The wierdest one I've seen was when the trailer reach broke coming around a corner, and that was because it was repair welded inadequately, then the weld ground down so the reach would slide thorough the bunks on the trailer. Chewing gum would have held that repair better.

The result of the break was the trailer heading into oncoming traffic and striking a car, killing both occupants. Ugly sight.

BTW, I used to work around truckers for a living and worked heavy vehicle fatal accident investigation for a bunch of years. And, about 2/3 of my wifes family are/were loggers.

 

[4011]

Ain't but one in control, it ain't me are you.

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

The tragic thing here in Hawaii is that the local PD has no clue about loads and trailer boats and truck trailers.

My Wife from Minnesota says most of the truckers and boat owners wouldn't get away with what they do here if they were on the Mainland.

Most trailer boats here do Not have trailer brakes or functioning trailer lights.

 

[carpriver]

A few years ago log truck driver killed a young mother when his load started dropping logs. He had been dropping logs for forty miles. It was his last trip of the day, it was dark. The log the killed the women was 8 feet long and 24 inches in dia. and oak. It went end first threw the windshield.

There are turn outs for log truck after each intersection the drivers can use to stop and check there load. Many drivers now use a caged trailers.
The drivers here get paid by the load so there is a rush to make as many trips as they can in a day

 

[shouldazagged]

In the early '60's a friend and his bride (also a friend) were on their honeymoon trip when they came up behind a slower-moving truck--dump truck as I recall. There was a rock wedged between the right tandem rear tires. It shot out like a bullet, went through their windshield, and removed the top of the bride's head.

I'm sure the truck's driver wasn't aware of the rock. Sometimes stuff just happens.

On the other hand, many years ago I was driving an old school bus full of teenagers back from a week-long church camp, at night, in light fog, and came around a curve to find a 15-foot boat, complete with outboard, lying in the road in my path. What kind of idiot doesn't know he's lost his damn boat?

 

[Engineer1911]

I live near a T-intesection of two state highways. Loaded log trucks frquently loose the whole load at the intersection when turning left towards the mill. Most wrecks happen between 6:00 AM amd 7:15 AM on their first load of the day.

Another Georgia specialty is moving day near the middle or end of the month. Sunday on I-20 eastbound lane out of Atlanta (after the Bullseye match) the show started with lady's undies, then several dresser drawers, couch cushions, the matching couch. The cherry on top was the "large mattress" that had been rolled into a spring ball laying neat the right ditch. Very entertaining ride to Augusta.

 

[feralmerril]

About 20 years ago I came close to death. It was a early sunday morning at lockheed where I was a guard. We had a earthquake and it was enough to break chains and it rolled open some hanger doors on one of the huge hangers. A engineer came in and we were attempting to reclose the huge heavy doors. No, pushing, too huge for that, we have electric motors that close them. Since I had the keys for that I was operating the doors. He yelled, "LOOK OUT!" and at the same time I seen what he did. It seemed like slow motion, a heavy piece of iron plate, maybe 20 pounds was falling straight down on me from about 40 feet high! It was surreal. I made one jump backwards and it hit exactly where I had been standing. The plate had been welded to a I beam at the top of the hanger door. Somehow it seemed unreal, like did that really happen?

 

[LVSteve]

Every time NHP start leaning on this here all the trucking and construction businesses start whining to the County Commissioners they have bought and it stops in short order. I have seen loads on big name commercial vehicles in this city that I consider attempted murder on every other vehicle they pass.

 

[Frank46]

Two incidents stick in my mind. Pickup truck carrying a long section of 8" pipe with one end sticking out on the passenger side. Panic stop and the pipe launches itself like a rocket. No one hurt that time. Second was a truck carrying large tractor trailer tires. Panic stop and one tire come flying out of the truck body goes bouncing down the road and creams a VW. Hood, windshield and roof all crushed. If I'm picking up something like lumber I'll throw some stout rope to tie everything down. Frank

 

[chud333]

I once told my best buddies young son just as he was turning
16 and getting his DL and a car, "keep your eyes open at all
times and drive like every car approaching from the opposite
direction is an idiot". Most times you will be correct in that
assumption. Lots of people driving drunk, texting, phoning
someone, high as a kite, etc.....
I always drive trying to look ahead as far as i can to be ready
for whatever may happen.

Chuck

 

[M29since14]

...came around a curve to find a 15-foot boat, complete with outboard, lying in the road in my path. What kind of idiot doesn't know he's lost his damn boat?

Most likely a drunken one.