A trucker is suing the Oregon Department of Transportation for $7.25 million over the dangerous design of an off ramp that he claims caused an accident which totaled his vehicle, left him severely injured, and prevented him from driving.
David Lee Sitton, a trucker who was 67 years old at the time, was driving on I-84 when he was side-swiped, driven off the road, and ended up dropping 50 feet to the ground below where he was stuck upside down, for over an hour before rescue workers were able to free him from his vehicle.
The accident allegedly occurred when a four wheeler, not realizing that she was in an exit-only lane until too late due to the poor design of the highway, swerved to change lanes, colliding with Sitton’s truck. The truck went over the curb, through the guard rail, and plunged 50 feet, overturning and landing upside down. Sitton was stuck in his truck with his leg pinned above him. According to the suit, he had to hold himself up with his arms pressed on the ceiling of the cab (which was now on the ground) to keep his “pinned leg from separating from his body.”
Due to the severity of the crash, rescue workers at first didn’t even attempt to get him out of the truck because they had assumed that he was dead. When they heard him screaming for help, they started the long extraction process using the Jaws of Life.
The suit alleges that the design of the highway ramp, the lanes, and the inadequate signage together caused the accident to occur, and as such, the ODOT is responsible for the crash.
In the report from the Oregonian, they note that around 76,000 vehicles use the junction where the accident occurred every day and in the past 5 years, the state has responded to 31 collisions there. Shortly after the crash, the ODOT added new signs, repaved, and redesigned the lanes at that intersection.
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Source: oregonlive, registerguard, gazaettetimes
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Dan says
I know those intersections and they are Very poorly designed. You drive thinking it’s another lane when without warning your lane ends up being an exit ramp. Very dangerous.
Les_gvt says
Great idea. Start holding the government idiots responsible for the problems they create.
And fire the lead engineer on the design team
Les_gvt says
How much damage is caused every day to trucks and property both just because of poorly designed turning lanes that are plenty big for a bicycle but no where big enough for a semi. Evidently the engineers still use the turning radius of a 1940 day cab with a pup behind it when they design even the newest industrial parks. Or even more likely they just pull something out of their ass and a
Say it will work. Irregardless of physics
Tim says
I see these accidents all the time in Spokane, WA. As you go through the downtown area, across a viaduct, they have both the entrance and exit ramps in the same spot. It causes confusion with people trying to leave and enter I-90 within a very short lane.
Tim says
“Shortly after the crash, the ODOT added new signs, repaved, and redesigned the lanes at that intersection.”
Guess Oregon can’t afford any good lawyers these days.
J Ossowski says
Isn’t “good lawyers” an oxymoron?
JJ says
Get all the money you can out of Oregon’s ass. Maybe they will get smarter in their designs and take a more aggressive approach in the redesign these exits/ entrances. This driver has to suffer from their poor ass designs, not right yeah know.
Jc says
The other driver is to blame too. Poor design yes. But don’t over react and cause accident. “Oh well ,I’m guess I’m exiting”. Get back on when you can.
I don’t jackknife the truck because I missed my turn.
Kelly Wyatt says
The other driver is the main cause for the accident, “not realizing that she was in an exit-only lane until too late due to the poor design of the highway, swerved to change lanes, colliding with Sitton’s truck.”
An accident is just that, AN ACCIDENT! It happens and every day millions of people get into their vehicles to go somewhere never realizing it may be their last trip. Pay more attention to the other driver.