Trucker aborts exit, gets rear ended in Houston- fatality

My son inlaw was driving a semi when a p/u hauling a boat did the same thing. He ended up with the boat sail coming through his windshield. Luckily no one was killed, but it did end his truck driving career.

Condolences to the family of this young lady.

 

I doubt the trucker's story is entirely accurate. Doesn't seem the truck was going very fast at all at the time of the incident. More likely the driver realized he was at the wrong exit or (changed his mind) then put himself right back into the high-speed traffic lane of the freeway, assuming others would realize he was an idiot and steer around him.

... may have even been sort of new and not good with his shifting skills, and messed up the shift as he tried to pick up from wherever he was in the pattern (neutral perhaps?) and was coasting along, in the traffic lane, like a _______________ (fill in the blank).

Don't get me started on drivers who lose their position in shifting and flunk out and can not figure it out without coming to a stop and starting over.

 

I'm not sticking up for truck driver but it looks like he had truck back in travel lane and straight already when he got hit... Suv hit it square on which indicates to me enough time to slow or stop

 

Maybe the trucker was wrong for swerving like that but, as magoo58 said, she hit that ICC bar square on. That leads me to also believe that the truck had already gotten fully back into the lane when the Nissan hit him. In turn, for the Nissan to have hit him I'd think she was probably speeding and/or following too closely anyhow.

Now that I think about it, I'm just saying the same thing as the poster above me...

EDIT: I just re-read the story. Either the 4-wheeler was clearly speeding, or the trucker was going way too slow when he swerved back into the travel lane.

 

Something does not add up. The semi was in a sandwich lane. It wasn't in the slow lane where you would expect it to be if it was pulling back into traffic.

 

Yeah somethings up if you view the pictures that show the exit and where he's stopped it looks like he is stopped before the actual corner so he had time to slow enough to make it.
I won't say he was right by no means but she had to have been distracted or rolling pretty dang quick.

 

Looking at the pictures again my money is on this scenario. The driver is full of himself ( like so many jerks in today's America) and drives only in the second lane. It came time to make a decision as to which exit to take. He slowed, paying no attention to where he was (in a thru travel lane) because he can drive in whatever lane he chooses to. He also payed no attention to any of the other vehicles traveling in his direction. He slowed way down and she plowed into the trailer possibly because judging the speed of a vehicle (the truck in this case) is much harder to do at night than in daylight. Even when you are paying attention to driving it is very easy to run up on a slow vehicle at night. Also consider the fact that many many people drive well above the speed limit. Just my .02 cents. I do feel bad for her and family because this should not have happened.

 

Everything is too straight.

What happened there was that the driver slowed down on THAT lane to then check his mirrors to then try to switch onto the exit.

The car driver was following too close.
Dot bar was damaged more on left, she tried to swerve out but ...
This is sad.