Had the truck driver set the cruise control and climbed into the rear cabin for a nap? Whatever the mechanism, it looks pretty inexcusable.
I have a question for you. Given your experience, why are truck drivers always hitting stuff on the shoulder? BTW, this is not just a US issue as there have been a rash of incidents in Europe, too.
Steve, truck drivers hit things in the roads, off the roads, on the shoulder of the roads and anywhere else they can find.
I am not knocking truckers. They have a difficult job and I did it as well while in college (before the days of CDL). Long hours, lots of time alone makes on sleepy, distractions such as cell phones and many other reasons for causing the accidents they have. In addition, motorists cause truckers to have accidents by cutting in front of them, trying to squeeze into their lane of travel, stopping suddenly in front of them and many more ways. Then we have the stress factor. Short delivery times, break downs, traffic tie ups and other things that dig into their pockets financially. They speed to make up time and those rigs will not stop quickly.
Trucking companies are to blame as well. They lowered their hiring standards, often do not pay fairly and ignore their bad drivers. I have one case where a driver had 11 traffic tickets across the US, three DUI convictions, five accidents and was driving under suspension. Yet the company kept him on the road. He is now banned from the driving anything until Sept of 2015. So he is driving a local big rig and his new employer knows he does not have a license but has a lot of experience.
Many times, we fail to know why an accident happened but we know what caused it. In the OP, the guy was either on the cell phone or dozed off. He would not admit to either but was fired from the company he worked for.
Right now I am working 27 major traffic accidents, meaning accidents that caused death, permanent incapacitating injury or multiple critical injuries. Of those, 19 are with 18 wheelers. I will be on Hwy 175 here in Louisiana all day tomorrow doing a highway survey to complete a reconstruction from an accident that should not have happened that left a lady crippled.