Police say trucker was tired, watching porn when fatal crash occurred

This is what I've been saying. They are going to say whatever it takes to hang you. I'd take this as a warning. If you have your laptop mounted up front on your cybertrucker mount, you'd better be careful. Some lawyer looking for big bucks is going to say that laptop was a distraction.

 

what if she WAS pulled to the side of the road, and she DID call the police to report hitting a dear, but for some reason decided to pull back onto the highway, and DIDN'T check her mirrors first and pulled out infront of the truck.. would that make her wrong? would the driver still get such a harsh punishment? before everyone goes off about why someone would pull back onto the high and make such a dumb decision with out checking mirrors.. just look at youtube, there's a video from a cop's dash cam where he's trying to pull this car over, and for some reason the car doesn't pull completely off the road, and jus as it get's ready to stop, another car forces a rig onto to the right of it's lane and it wipes the car out.. you can even hear the cop say, "buddy get off the road"..

 

Yes this driver is still wrong, and does still get "a harsh punishment" in my book.

From the story.


"Investigators determined that Wallace was driving on no more than four hours of sleep and had been on duty for 27 hours prior to the fatal crash, in violation of federal regulations that limit the hours of commercial drivers, State Police Capt. Michael Nigrelli said."

This is enough for me to throw the book at him. Not 15 min, or even a couple hrs, BUT 27 FRIGGIN HRS!!! Come on.

Also from the story.

"The investigation focused in part on why, according to state police, several drivers were able to avoid Stratton's vehicle before Wallace crashed into it."

Dont think this is strange? He couldn't see the hazard from up in his truck when everyone ele could? He was irresponsible, and negligent. Now this woman is dead, and hers kids dont have a mom. He deserves to pay. I dont see this as her fault.

 

We could play the "if" and "but" game all day with this, but we don't have a clue to the circumstances of this collision. From the investigations I have done of fatal collisions, there is numerous things that are examined. Most trucks have the on board recorder that will give, depending on the Make of vehicle, 3 minutes prior to an event. Will show braking and throttle responses, RPM's, speed, etc. Seize the cell phone and laptop, obtain a search warrant and have them analyzed and downloaded. You will be surprised at the information that comes of these devices. Witnesses to the collision can paint the picture for the jury as to driving behavoir before the crash or what the woman was doing on the shoulder. I know here recently I have stopped more and more trucks that have a camera system installed on them. Had one last week that had a forward facing camera getting the view in front of the truck. One on the passenger front fender looking towards the rear, and one on the driver's side fender looking towards the rear. I don't know how much these costs but in a collision the tapes won't lie as to what, who, why, when and how the collision occurred.

 

See, your buying the hype. Let's say that driver tried to split log, and didn't do it right. The 7.75 break he took canceled out all his breaks for a 36 hour period. He got just as much sleep as any normal person did, but because he made a 15 min error in his log book, the breaks don't count, and he was on duty 27 hours with out a legal break. The media picks this up, the slip and fall lawyer picks this up, and runs with the presumption that you were on duty 27 consecutive hours without sleeping. "Hang that outlaw trucker. He's probably a meth-head." That's exactly what everyone is thinking. All because the driver doesn't know how to fill out his log book correctly.

I've been in an accident. Last year a 70 year old man blew a stop sign, and I t-boned his mini-van. I was not at fault. But as I sat there on the side of the road watching them pry that minivan out of my grill, the DOT was there going over my truck, and my log book with a fine tooth comb. They were looking for a reason to hang me. I sat there on the curb for 2 hours watching them trying to find a reason to pin it on me. If my log had not been legal, my career would have been OVER.

 

My company had a guy that mounted a camera on his top bunk, so it took in a view of the ####pit and out the windshield. For his protection, so he said. Well, one day that driver was driving on a city street, approaching a red light, with his laminated atlas propped up on the steering wheel. He rear ended a car sitting at the red light, and you can see him toss the atlas onto the jump seat right after impact. Obviously the guy was fired. And we all get to see this guy's video at every safety meeting to this day.

 

Ok, maby. I would think that once it got to the court this would not work. However that was one of TWO things that together sugested his guilt. What about the fact that he hit someone that everyone else seen. He has a much better view than the cars. This happened in a place that the traffic loves to tailgate. The average motorist has a 3 sec space of awareness around their vehicles. They all managed to avoid the accident. He did not. Why? Was he so absorbed in the movie that he was completely not looking where he was going? Maby fatigue had a helping hand in this. Im sorry to hear about your accident. It must have been fustrating. I know police can be a PIA, but I can see their point. I have made the same 15 minute slip you are talking about myself, but I think that in a situation like this they can tell the difference between a mistake, and blatant disregard for the rules.

 

I know what you mean... last time I watched this stuff I went blind.

 

Your right. Maybe he had a DVD in the player and when he hit the car it jerked (no pun) the computer enough to play it. I know there have been a few times I have had a DVD in and hit the button or something and it starts playing. The news is all about the WOW now, they will take the smallest thing and blow it up to make people watch or read. Most people wouldn't have checked this out if it just said "A truck / car accident kills a mother of 2".... Now add the word porn and people can't help but to look.

 

I'm not taking sides on this issue because the details just aren't being made clear. Here's the scoop as I see it - a truck driver hit a stalled car - no reliable details given. The NEWS said that several motorists had avoided the stalled car..... let's examine that for a second:

First of all, you have a biased source giving vague details - let's say other vehicles had avoided a crash. It's much easier to safely change lanes in another "vehicle" - like my Toyota for example - I can change lanes safely once every 50 feet going 70 miles per hour (notice I didn't say legally). In a truck, it takes ALOT longer. I was trained to hold my lane until you can safely make a lane change, this takes at least a second to check the mirrors. I'm not going to swerve out of my lane because a vehicle is stopped in it, only to wipe out a tour bus next to me and cause a 20 car pile-up. You hit the brakes, and plan a safe evasion - if it works - great - if not, you minimized the potential damage.

Next point that's running down this thread - the driver could see farther than other vehicles. Maybe - but the data doesn't account the field of visibility. This very well could've been a curve, the crest of a hill, woods, etc. We all know too well that deer don't hang out on the plains..... Trucks need far more space to safely avoid a collision, I know personally the last thing I want to do is swerve to avoid something, clip it with the trailer, and wind up in oncoming traffic on the other side thanks to a jack-knife.

The rest is just sensationalism to sell news and call attention to the story. It IS a tragedy - there's no doubt - but let's not help to fry this guy on hearsay. We are all innocent until proven guilty - whether the facts and evidence are dead-on or not, and in this case they're not.

I'll give an example of what happens every single day - I was rolling down the right lane of a divided 2 lane highway on a clear afternoon. Trying to save fuel, I had the cruise set at 64mph in a 70 zone (short drive gears). 2 cars come up an on-ramp to my right, and the lead car sees me in his mirror and stops in his tracks (when he could've hit the gas and made it with plenty of room). At this moment I bump my brakes to set them and dis-engage the cruise control.

I see this going on, and check my left mirror - to see there's a truck and trailer about halfway up my trailer - I don't have a clear path option. I've already bumped the brakes with my foot and come off of cruise, and the worst happens. The following car on the ramp pops out from behind the stopping car, and jumps into my lane in front of me. Now I'm going about 60mph at this point, and he's accelerating from about 10mph - distance is closing from 150 feet......

Now I can't stop in the distance I've been given, and this 4 wheeler clearly made several illegal mistakes. They could cost him his life, and the lives of the passengers in his vehicle right here and now. I have no clear path, and he basically just jumped out into the path of a freight train without looking at all. He's at fault, but so what, it's left to me and him to deal with what he's done.

So I stand on my brakes and my horns at the same time - and he hears the horns and floors it. The lead car stayed on the shoulder right where he was at to start with. The end result was that I never came within 50 feet of that vehicle, and everyone had tomorrow to live. No one is perfect, and moving vehicles can prove that any day of the week. But we all occupy the same space at the same time.

Had this situation gone badly, at the very least I'd have a no-fault accident on my record, and I'd be explaining it for years to come. If it went even worse, I could've somehow been blamed if I couldn't prove any better. But what I would not have done, was blindly swerve into the left lane avoiding this guy, and sending the truck and trailer next to me across the median - he had nothing to do with this incident. Case and point.