Dash cam big rig crash

I give up, I'm right, deep down you know I'm right.
Left lane dash cam did nothing wrong.

 

Some of the comments in this thread make me want to throw up.

For anyone that hasn't thought about it, each of us has a moral responsibility to look out for each other. If you pull off on the shoulder for whatever reason, you should never pull back onto the interstate until you are doing 45 or more mph, and your 4 ways should always be on when going at or below the minimum speed. As another driver said, don't pull into the breakdown lane unless you really need to. Take the exit ramp and stop on the break down lane on the ramp.

If I had seen this azzhole going slow in the right lane, I would have said something on the radio, so that at least everyone that had one on would be warned about the slow truck. I'm not going to form an opinion about the poor guy in the KW. It's very unfortunate that he probably suffered some serious injuries, a ticket for following to close, and loss of income for some time to come.

 

just yesterday I came upon a Central Refrigeration truck going a maximum 40mph on the I40 Eastbound. I saw him up ahead, scanned my mirrors to see that there was a truck and a couple of cars in the left lane, looked ahead again and Sh*********t! i had enough time to slow down fast(i've personally never had to slow down that fast before and some things shifted inside my cab alright--for a quick moment i thought i was going to have to run past him ditch side before i was able to pull up. once the left was clear i moved over and around--that driver had no four ways on and he seemed perplexed that i was leaning on my horn when i passed him. you can bet that i hopped on the CB to strongly suggest that a)he should get his #### four ways on if he's going to drive the slow or b) get the hell of the interstate if he's going to drive that slow.

he either ignored me or didn't have a CB. i also broadcast it out for anyone else coming up behind.

anyway, all that to say, i was thinking about this thread after this happened--and was awed by how quickly someone going dead slow on a real fast highway is suddenly right in front of one. the first glance i saw a truck far enough ahead that i had time to get over but the other vehicles prevented this...the second glance was almost too late(but thankfully was enough).

like DanM wrote above--and i'm paraphrasing--we have a responsibility to each other out here so that we all get back home safe. it's easy to feel so frustrated by how crappy other drivers seem to drive(and not care)but at the end of the trip--i'd rather be getting home to the ones i love and everyone else doing the same. in a year and a half of driving i've already seen 3 dead bodies(actually 2 and the third was a bloody blanket covering what little glass remained of a BMW jammed underneath a flatbed in LA.

 

Figure at 40 mph, that truck was covering a distance of 58'8" every second. If you're running the 70 mph speed limit, you're putting 102'8" in your back pocket every second. In other words, every second that ticks by, you're moving 44' closer to that 40 mph truck. Got 1/4 mile between you? Pay attention or you'll be eating windshield in 30 seconds.

Now that I'm sitting a the computer with a larger monitor (as opposed to my phone), let's go ahead and analyze what's going on in the video:

@ 0:14, dashcam passes a sign showing 1 mile to exit 197. The crash happens @ 0:42, and dashcam is still approximately 3 truck lengths from the sign stating exit 197 was still 1/2 mile away. In other words, he's covered approximately 2415 feet in 28 seconds, or 58.8 mph average speed. The speed limit is 70.

@ 0:15, dashcam sees the van pull off the shoulder into the right lane, and moves into the left lane.

KW appears in dashcam's spot mirror @ 0:32, and I'm guessing that is pretty close to when his front bumper is nearly even with dashcam's ICC bumper. By 0:39, he's even and pulling ahead. Given dashcam's speed of 58.8 mph, if KW was running the 70 mph speed limit, he would have advanced that truck length in less than 5 seconds...but it took 7. So, either dashcam had been running at a decent clip and slowed down during that 1/2 mile stretch leading up to the crash in order to have the lower average speed (which would have encouraged a right-lane pass when the reason behind the lane change and speed reduction are unknown) or he was just tooling along at 58.8 mph...but either way, the KW's speed was below the 70 mph speed limit.

Given the closing rate of 1 truck length every 7 seconds, the KW was approximately 2 seconds behind the dashcam truck when the dashcam truck changed lanes. We don't know what sort of trailer dashcam is pulling to know whether or not KW was aware of what was going on ahead. If he was preparing to pull out to pass the dashcam truck, and suddenly that truck changed lanes when all appears clear up ahead for nearly 1/2 mile, he likely decided to go ahead and make the pass unaware of the closing speed due to the fact that he wasn't able to SEE the van pull off of the shoulder and the van wasn't signalling the danger he presented by using his 4-ways.

So let's assume the dashcam truck DIDN'T slow down. KW would have been running approximately 66 mph. Now at the 0:40 mark, KW still has about a truck length between him and the slow moving van....which disappears to nothing by 0:42 when the collision occurs. 75 feet in 2 seconds closing speed. Given the KW's speed of 66 mph, with that closing speed, the van had reached a whopping 40 mph by the time the KW hit him. Minimum speed limit on that stretch of road is 50 mph.

So for those of you who think the van driver didn't do anything wrong, Illinois law disagrees:

(625 ILCS 5/11-606) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 11-606)
Sec. 11-606. Minimum speed regulation. (a) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation of his vehicle or in compliance with law.
(Source: P.A. 81-840.)

(625 ILCS 5/11-611) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 11-611)
Sec. 11-611. No person shall drive or operate any motor vehicle on any street or highway in this State where the minimum allowable speed on that street or highway, as posted, is greater than the maximum attainable operating speed of the vehicle. Maximum attainable operating speed shall be determined by the manufacturer of the vehicle and clearly published in the manual of specifications and operation, or it shall be determined by applicable rule and regulation promulgated by the Secretary of State.
(Source: P.A. 79-700.)

(625 ILCS 5/11-1303) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 11-1303)
Sec. 11-1303. Stopping, standing or parking prohibited in specified places.
(a) Except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic, or in compliance with law or the directions of a police officer or official traffic-control device, no person shall:
1. Stop, stand or park a vehicle:
j. On any controlled-access highway;
(Source: P.A. 89-245, eff. 1-1-96; 89-658, eff. 1-1-97.)

And for those of you who think dashcam didn't do anything wrong, again, Illinois law disagrees:

(625 ILCS 5/11-701) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 11-701)
Sec. 11-701. Drive on right side of roadway - Exceptions.
(d) Upon an Interstate highway or fully access controlled freeway, a vehicle may not be driven in the left lane, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle.
(e) Subsection (d) of this Section does not apply:
(1) when no other vehicle is directly behind the
vehicle in the left lane;
(2) when traffic conditions and congestion make it
impractical to drive in the right lane;
(4) when obstructions or hazards exist in the right
lane;
(Source: P.A. 93-447, eff. 1-1-04.)

Now dashcam moved into the left lane a full 1/2 mile before the obstruction, and may or may not have slowed to become an obstruction himself there in the left lane. KW was right on top of him (pop quiz: What SHOULD your following distance be in a 75' truck traveling @ 66 mph?) and this chose to use the seemingly clear lane to go around. Had dashcam lifted ever so slightly (rather than changing lanes) at 0:15, KW would have completed the pass and dashcam could have slid over behind him. Again, hindsight being 20/20, it's easy to play Monday morning quarterback...but these are things a defensive driver needs to consider. "If I do this, what will THEY do?" Your goal SHOULD be to act in a manner which promotes the safe travels of everyone around you. Just because you weren't involved doesn't mean you couldn't have caused the wreck to have been avoided.

 

dashcam didn't hit anything and moved to the left because the law required him too,
Slower traffic keep right, now shoulder Parker was slower and dash cam had no choice but move left.
Kenworth might not have seen shoulder Parker pull off the shoulder, but should have realized the trailer was getting bigger real quick, maybe Ken worth was shocked that his eyesight was improving as the blurry letters on the trailer in front of him were becoming clearer real quick.
And at an 8 mph speed difference between kenworth and dash cam, it would be unthinkable for Kenworth to expect dash cam to drop over 20 mph .
Id like to see Kenworth's log book, .

 

Now you made me go back and watch the video again...

Without getting into the second by second blow by blow, early in the video a truck well ahead of dashcam moves into the left lane to give room to the truck on the shoulder. Dashcam does the right thing and immediately moves to the left lane and THEN the truck on the shoulder gets into the travel lane.

Any time I see a truck ahead of me getting into the hammer lane without an apparent pass coming on, that raises my alert level. If they are getting over for a vehicle on the shoulder I'm immediately sweeping my mirrors to see if I can safely get over. Dashcam did just that.

Now it sucks when you get over for an apparently stopped vehicle that starts accelerating, especially when it moves into the travel lane. Now your quick pass takes longer and your plan to complete the pass and get back over is out the window. In this situation in a governed truck there's nothing to do keep at it and complete the pass.

KW obviously failed to recognize the situation ahead, that a truck had moved from the shoulder to the travel lane. He had PLENTY of time to recognize the situation ahead because dashcam did the right thing to get over early and give him a view.

KW's obvious correct action would be to get behind dashcam and slow to dashcam's speed. There's no law in the book that says a faster truck must always be able to run unimpeded at or above the speed limit all day long.

KW obviously missed a gear. He failed to shift his mental gear.

 

One thing we all have working against us here is the fact that we are looking at the entire event through the "eyes" of a camera, which has somewhat of a wide angle lens. And, as we all know, you don't always see things the same through a camera as you do in real life. A wide angle lens makes things look smaller unless they are close to the camera. Distant objects disappear to the camera, when, in real life, they can still easily be seen.

What I'm saying is that we most likely aren't getting a true representation of what the scene looked like if we had actually been there.

In my opinion, the driver of the W9 should have seen the slow moving truck and reacted WAY before we see his brake lights come on. Whether he switched lanes or not, from the time he appears in the mirror until the time he gets on the binders was way too long. Something was going on that we can't see, and it had his attention. A driver that's paying attention TO THE ROAD will not hit that truck. Even if he couldn't slow in time, he had the shoulder. He never even attempted to swerve.

And, yes, I agree that the slow mover should have built more speed before coming out to play, and should have had his hazard lights on. But if a fella ain't paying any more attention than that KW driver, those hazards don't do much good.

 

wwwwaaaayyy more information than I needed......

 

dat steel coil tho...