Trucker dies to save lives, hits restaurant instead of cars - Pittsburg, CA

Sounds like a mechanical failure as opposed to driver failure. Don't know and may not ever know depending on how bad the components are after the fire. Driver is a hero for sure. RIP

 

This is why you don't work for shady companies at bottom of TTR link it appears its a company that probaly shouldn't of been in business RIP driver

 

Nope from the sounds of it they should not. It just boggles my mind that drivers would drive equipment in as bad of shape as the reports are talking about. I guess I have just never been in tight enough spot that I felt it it was worth the risk to myself and others for a few bucks.
RIP driver.

 

Police are looking for a mechanical failure, but as the road was described by the OP, it's possible he was traveling to fast, and smoked his brakes, and was unable to slow the truck, tragic? Yes, can we all learn something from this? Yes, steep hills require a much slower travel, especially a loaded truck, and even more so, with an aged truck, RIP to the driver, hopefully his passing wasn't do to his own doings

 

Where to start?.... First of all, the "hero" aspect is premature, witnesses said the driver was trying to control his vehicle and hit two cars that were sitting at the light. He didn't make some sacrificial maneuver that saved lives at the expense of his own. His truck veered to the right just after contact with the parked cars. The road was clear ahead of him, he didn't make a suicide turn to avoid cars and he certainly didn't know that there would be no people in the building. Why wouldn't he just let the truck go straight ahead on an empty road? . So it sounds like he lost his steering after contacting the cars. Its sad and unfortunate.
If you need a "hero" to look up to, stop by your local fire station or thank the next war vet you see.

 

The only thing I would agree on is the "hero" part... If it was a mechanical failure such as out of adjustment brakes then the blame goes onto the driver for not doing a proper pre-trip.. If he did a proper pre-trip then this situation would have been avoided all together.. If he smoked the brakes on the hill then you could blame lack of proper use of the brakes and even thou his use of braking technically is his fault it's not due to negligence like the pre-trip.. Speeding would put him to blame with smoking brakes... Because we don't know all of this information all we can due to speculate...

What I don't agree with you on is the road wasn't clear ahead of him which was already mentioned... You don't know if he lost steering when he hit those cars it doesn't say that anywhere in the reports that I could see.. I have been side swipe before where the car has hit my steer tire, I didn't lose my steering... He just ended up opening his car like a tin can.. So it all depends on how he impacted the cars, but they didn't mention that.. Also I don't agree with you on saying "he didn't know if people were in the building", it says he is from the area and is some sport athlete in the near by area...So maybe he knows the restaurant is closed Monday's and that is why he chose to do that, sure he can't know if a few staff are in there but the place is closed so there is a good chance he knew no one would be in there.. Even if there was 1 or 2 people in there, having 2-3 people dead is way better then a whole bunch more dead people the the cars ahead.. It's a sacrifice you have to make in a split second, regardless of whose fault it is... Even if he is 100% in the wrong, the choice still needs to be made barrel into lanes full of cars or crash into a closed restaurant with a good chance no one is in there.. Remember you don't have minutes to decided, you only have seconds to make a choice..

I am not sure "hero" is the correct word to use... If he is 100% in the wrong then I don't know how he could be a "hero" when negligence is what caused it... What I would say is he sacrificed his life in order to save many more lives... That is a hard decision to make no matter the reason for the truck issues.. With him doing this I would say he has redeemed himself and made a bad situation into a less deadly one.. I think that is why people use the word "hero" because he choice to risk death to prevent a bigger accident..

RIP to the driver.. He made the right choice and save a lot of people's lives... So in the aspect I would consider him a hero for not making a bad situation worst.. He had the courage to take his life and make this a better situation...