falling hay bales from passing truck kill driver!

Discussion in 'Trucking Accidents' started by Drive-a-Mack, Mar 6, 2010.

  1. Drive-a-Mack

    Drive-a-Mack Light Load Member

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    Aug 13, 2007
    Eugene, OR via Lincoln, NE
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    By Jack Moran
    The Register-Guard

    Appeared in print: Friday, Mar 5, 2010

    OAKRIDGE, OR — State police launched a potential hit-and-run investigation Thursday after several 1,000-pound hay bales tumbled from a truck’s trailer on Highway 58 and demolished the cab of an oncoming tractor-trailer rig, killing its driver.
    Authorities identified the victim as Gregory Ralph Muller, 37, of Sparks, Nev.
    State police said Thursday afternoon that they had “tentatively identified” the hay truck’s driver, who did not stop at the scene of the 5:25 a.m. crash about seven miles west of Oakridge. Officials did not release the suspected driver’s name.
    Muller was driving a Sherwin-Williams Co. tractor-trailer rig east on the highway when he rounded a sharp curve and encountered an oncoming truck pulling two trailers loaded with hay bales, state police officials said.
    Several bales weighing a total of approximately 8 tons fell off the westbound truck’s lead trailer and slammed into the cab of Miller’s vehicle, which crashed in a ditch alongside the highway. Muller was pronounced dead at the scene.
    State police Sgt. Andy Kenyon said the circumstances surrounding the crash were quite unusual.
    “I’ve seen very few crashes where a driver loses his load and doesn’t stop, but it does happen,” Kenyon said.
    “I never would have believed that hay bales falling off a truck would do this much damage and cause a fatality,” he said.
    Kenyon stopped short of characterizing the crash as a hit-and-run, saying that investigators hoped to interview the hay truck’s driver to learn more about what happened.
    Officials closed Highway 58 for nearly five hours Thursday morning while state police troopers investigated the wreck. State transportation department workers cleared the hay from the roadway. The road was closed again Thursday afternoon while a tow truck removed Muller’s truck from the ditch.
    ******************************************************************************************
    condolences to this driver's family & to the driver that left the scene I hope you lose your license if you have one.. and to leave an injured dying fellow driver like that is as low as you can get, be a man now & turn yourself in or hopefully you won't be getting much sleep thinking about a dead driver you left on the side of the road..
     

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  3. broncrider

    broncrider Road Train Member

    must not have had ANY securement what-so-ever and hualing tail to manage to slide a few large square's off the trailer.......

    last time i hualed those they couldn't push them off with a tractor, they had to lift each one off


    one driver died, one wishes he had.......bad situation all the way around
     
  4. rubbergearsnextyear

    rubbergearsnextyear Heavy Load Member

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    Nov 7, 2007
    Lexington, SC
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    I saw a show on the cartoon network just the other day (I can't remember the name) but it's not a cartoon and it's kinda like ####### in a way. Anyways, these kids launched some hay bales at significant PSI's from an air cannon and it did some serious damage to a metal trailer. I can only imagine what they did to that truck at highway speeds! I remember in ATL I was on the loop and apparently a driver ignited the hay load from tossing a cig out the window, that SOB was BLAZIN on the shoulder as I passed by.
     
  5. wolfpack67

    wolfpack67 Light Load Member

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    Jan 1, 2010
    winston-salem nc
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    i hope they hang this s.o.b
     
  6. Brickman

    Brickman Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Sep 17, 2006
    WY
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    I know that in OR and CA they don't secure them the way the rest of us do. I never thought that the nose to tail "secure" method with mere ropes was a very good idea.

    And I don't know how he would not feel loosing 8 tons off the load.

    I've hauled hay in from the field and lost a bale or two back in the day. You definitely feel just one of the large bales falling off. This guy lost 8 tons.
     
  7. IROCUBabe

    IROCUBabe Road Train Member

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    Apr 9, 2008
    Dallas, TX
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    I hope when he is found they take him to a truck stop and tell them what he did and leave him there for a few hours first.
     
  8. wsyrob

    wsyrob Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Sep 14, 2007
    Winston Salem
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    I came around a heavy duty pick up truck pulling a trailer loaded with 5 of those big round bales on I-65 in Alabama yesterday. 3 on the bottom and 2 on top of them. The only straps on the load were across the front and back bales on the bottom 3. Nothing at all on the top 2. I remember wondering what kind of damage they could do if they bounced off.
     
  9. Bigray

    Bigray Road Train Member

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    Nov 23, 2007
    Tampa, Florida
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    I was north on I-65 today and come across 2 separate hay bale incidents in 2 diff. states, these were the common hay bale size.

    the first bale in KY. was a homeowner.
     
  10. Kansas

    Kansas Road Train Member

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    aircap, Ks.
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    Bet me that driver doesn't speak a word of English.
     
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  11. Drive-a-Mack

    Drive-a-Mack Light Load Member

    276
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    Aug 13, 2007
    Eugene, OR via Lincoln, NE
    0
    The man, who did not stop after Thursday’s deadly wreck, is released without being charged..
    By Jack Moran
    The Register-Guard
    Appeared in print: Saturday, Mar 6, 2010

    Oregon State Police investigators questioned, then released, a hay truck driver allegedly involved in a bizarre fatal crash Thursday morning on Highway 58 west of Oakridge.
    Investigators briefly detained the truck’s driver Thursday afternoon in Salem, as he was returning to Central Oregon after dropping off a load of hay in Hebo, just east of Pacific City near the Oregon Coast, state police Sgt. Andy Kenyon said.
    Twenty-four bales of hay, each weighing more than 1,000 pounds, fell from one of the truck’s two trailers early Thursday morning as it headed west on the highway. Several bales tumbled onto the cab of an oncoming vehicle, killing its driver.
    The hay truck driver — who Kenyon did not identify because he does not at this time face criminal charges — failed to stop at the crash scene.
    Kenyon would not disclose what the driver told investigators Thursday afternoon regarding his knowledge of the wreck, or when he realized that more than 12 tons of hay had fallen from one of his trailers.
    After consenting to the interview with police, the driver was freed and allowed to drive back to Christmas Valley, a community southeast of La Pine where he had picked up the hay, Kenyon said. The case remains under investigation.
    Authorities identified the crash victim as Gregory Ralph Muller, 37, of Sparks, Nev.
    Muller was driving a Sherwin-­Williams Co. tractor-trailer rig east on Highway 58, about seven miles west of Oakridge, when he rounded a sharp curve and encountered an oncoming truck pulling two trailers loaded with hay bales, officials said.
    After several bales tumbled from the lead trailer and crushed Muller’s cab, his truck crashed into a roadside ditch. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
    *********************************************************************************************************************
    ..how can u lose 24 bales off your trailer & not know your 12 tons lighter all of a sudden??.. & then not stop to warn oncoming traffic even if there hadn't been an accident; I'm sure this guy will get a long list of violations which is what they are probably going to write up when they determine the most serious ones he violated.. a lot of these hay haulers here in OR use day cabs so if he was driving one he would have seen what happened, some of the flats i see hauling hay use only 1 strap per bale stacked & loaded, most will use 2 straps..
     
    truckerdave1970 and CommDriver Thank this.
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