FedEx and a bus crash in Cali

Really? MADD, PATT, and the other "social groups" are doing the investigation on this crash? And I suppose their lobby power will be the ones who present the final stats to the public for a complete and honest report of how this accident occurred. In other words, it isn't the crash investigation teams from LEO, FMCSA, NTSB who are putting pressure on FMCSA to regulate our industry, it is these single focused pressure groups that have little or no knowledge let alone first hand experience about our industry that bring our problems to such an exaggerated elevation.

30 trucks out of how many thousands and that is a bad stat? For your information, FED EX is actually one of the safest outfits out on the highway...according to the stats that is. Of course what you remember seeing is the very small percentage that get caught up in situations, you don't really pay attention to the remainder of the fleet that has no incidents. EVERY company has a few (or more) bad drivers. Trucking is having to put people at the wheel of an 80k rig that probably shouldn't be driving a go-cart, let alone a big rig. If you want to put some blame on a specific group, better begin your blame game with the very first person to "teach" those youngsters to drive....no not the driving schools, try blaming the parents and everyone else showing how fast they can go, how the rules are made to be ignored, teach them that they aren't indestructible, that they can get hurt, maimed, killed by being unsafe and stupid behind the wheel of an automobile. The problems start at the beginning, not in the middle or at the end...in the very first vision they get of how easy it is to be STUPID!

 

Unless you think you can take all the leftovers from the accident and recreate it, take the body's and do forensics to see what happen to them, I have no idea what your talking about.

We all know the laws and Regs in our industry are a joke and overreaching, but are you the same kind of person who complains about government overreach, then want the government to look into Fed-Ex and punish them? Then fine if your into double standards.

All i'am saying is this a HUGE black eye for all the trucking industry. To come on public forums and bash this driver, his company, before anyone knows what happen, is as good as asking the government to do something about it. And what does the government do when the public wants intervention into a trucking carrier? More regulation

You see what i'am getting at? The government agencies read forums and stuff like this. They say,"Look, the drivers don't even like Fed-Ex, let's make more regulation that's one size fits all" all the bashing on Fed-Ex is just stabbing our industry, and our selfs in the foot.

My personal opinion from what I have read is this was more the driver mistake, witness said the truck was on fire before the crash. Mabey a DPF fire? But CARB will be quick to call there government brothers to shut that idea down.

Young kids, ready to start there next chapter in life died. Two of our own professional drivers list there life's, leaving kids and wife's behind. To not want government regulation, but to want government agencies to punish Fed-Ex is just not very bright for our industry.

 

I look forward to the NTSB report. They are very thorough.

My speculation

Medical issue is unlikely when he was in process of trying to find a path to not have to slow down.

I've never been in this situation luckily so I don't know if my instincts would be to roll it, but I sure hope I would use a combination of popping the air valves and a few very sharp turns to lay it over before reaching the traffic on the other side.

I've heard the median was wide enough to not be required to have the cable catch. I will agree with the people who said cables won't necessarily stop a truck...but they would surely help.

 

Does anyone have any idea the distance between the Fed-Ex truck and the vehicle in front of him before he veered left? I ask because the following distance is usually a factor.

It is recommended that Big Trucks should leave about 7 second between them and the traffic ahead...unless they are in city traffic and then its about 3 seconds, however most trucks I see do not follow that safe distance. Matter of fact I see truck drivers putting their vehicle right up on the bumper of the vehicle ahead and pushing the envelope of how close is safe.....If you have ever run over a car, you'll know what its like to feel horrified right after you crush the little 4 wheeler like a beer can.

Unless it is determined a catastrophic malfunction, blown tire, bearing failure, air brake failure.....etc the blame will be shed on the driver. Did the driver do a DVIR pre-trip inspection and were any notes made in refernce of any potential hazards or defects. (driving on a worn out steer)

Nothing can bring back the dead, But we could all learn a valuable lesson from this terrible tragedy. We are the pros, we are suppose to be safe regardless of what the Appointed Directors recommend through legislation.

 

Really? What are we going to learn from this one that we haven't learned from countless hundred of previous accidents with similar results and outcomes? I don't need a front page major and deadly truck/bus accident to remind of of the dangers. If you do, you need to think about another line of work. But the notion that they are going to "address a problem once the investigation is completed" should be troubling for all of us here for a number of reasons, is all I'm saying. You can't create a "perfect world, free of crashes" but danm'ed if the government won't try to, and in the process, create 2 more problems, and a bunch more headaches for every problem they attempt to solve.

There are no "accidents" and I'm tired of paying the price for others poor choices and decisions. And there is no short supply of morons in this industry that will continue to run up the major accident statistics.

 

I thought drivers are supposed to hold their lane and stay in control? In reading this forum, I'm under the impression that a driver is to hold his lane at all costs, and not be swerving around.

I'm not giving an opinion, I'm asking as a wannabe.

 

Once years ago if I held my lane I would have hit a car setting dead still in the outside lane with two people setting in the car. I hit the shoulder of the interstate, & even got off the shoulder with my driver side tires to keep from hitting the car. For a moment I thought I would turn over, but didn't, & was able to get back on the interstate.

If I had held my lane perhaps we would have all died right there.

A driver, whether driving a truck, car, bus, or whatever, needs to do what is right for that situation, & of course in the heat of the moments, some will make the wrong decisions.

And sometimes no matter what decision is made, it still winds up being a very bad wreck.

 

If someone pulls in front of you, hold your line.

Some guys talk of "ditching it" instead of hitting a school bus or something. I might, if I screwed up.
But yeah, once you lose control the truck could end up anywhere. I've seen accidents were it looks like the truck entered, and then came back out of the ditch... So no telling what might happen once you decide to give up control.

 

And there you have hit the nail on the head!!
In other fields where you need to be able to think on your feet and actively make decisions, what you just said is what is looked for when it comes time to decide if you are at the point to handle having full control of the show. Without that, you would be passed over.

 

Thanks, I suppose multiple on board cameras would be beneficial for CYA purposes.

Thinking back, I believe what I said was discussed in the context of someone cutting in front and braking in traffic. The consensus was to brake and hit him rather than evasive maneuvers, which could leave driver in a wreck with someone else, and the offending 4 wheeler driving away scott free.