Anybody witness the fiery crash in Denver involving a trucker?

[QUOTE="starmac, post: 8462664, member:

Seems like the dot likes money over safety.[/QUOTE]
But the Company had ELogs!

 

I’ll lay dollars against doughnuts the authority WAS pulled That’s why this company is only 20 months old because the FMCSA gave them a new authority

 

I have a hard time believing that the truck pulling the Simmons trailer was pulled over for overheating brakes. Going east on 70 they were probably empty, and even fully loaded to the end with mattresses it's under 10,000 lbs in the box. I'm not saying that they should share any of the blame for the accident, it just struck me as odd. Most of the people who I see smoke their brakes have stopped in the chain area at Georgetown Lake.

 

Without knowing his experience with driving and driving on steep grades (it couldn't be much, but was this his first time?), I can only assume he was in too high a gear as he headed down the grade. A 5 year old should know what those signs mean. He was either in top gear or neutral is my guess (I think he said he was doing 85).
I dont know how heavy he was either, but my guess is other drivers were passing him and with him being young and stupid and an ego above all else attitude he didn't think about how they could have way more experience/skill and much lighter loads.
Most of my mountain experience is VA WV NC TN GA PA so I don't know that mountain very well but I've been there. I didn't lose my brakes. My trainer at Werner Enterprises had 5 years experience and we drove back and forth over the Appalachians every day.
After that I probably delivered to every Family Dollar/Dollar General in VA WV PA an NC (every little mountain town has one and those loads are heavy) Later, pulling reefer loads that are usually heavy I would be in the right lane, jake on hi and whatever gear will keep me at the truck speed limit. If I need to use my brakes at all, I am probably going to use them hard enough to get me into a lower gear.
I am not trying to save five minutes by speeding down a mountain. I have gotten on the radio and told drivers coming up behind me that I'm doing the speed limit and they should be ready to pass me or slow down. I think some guys get a thrill out of driving fast down a mountain but as this kid found out, it can end in disaster.

 

Identities Released Of The 4 Coloradans Killed In Fiery I-70 Crash Those were his 2x4s thrown all over the road. Witnesses said a stream of fluid was coming from the back of his truck. It looked like a flatbed to me, from the video. What could have been streaming from the back of a flatbed? Maybe they meant the tractor?

 

Yeah I heard about that fluid and so don’t know what it could’ve been

 

If I’m the driver of that truck I’m saying my truck quit. If he was illegally parked on the shoulder he too is Fkd.

 

He might have had a jerry can of fuel or something mounted behind the cab that broke lose and was crushed under the tires of the trailer. If he had a gas generator that could explain the fire too, if a container of gasoline burst under cherry-red brakes.

 

I understood the fluid was seen before the crash occurred but I don’t know

 

Only reasonably possible thing I can think of is that if he lost his transmission or a differential while trying to force a downshift, he might have leaked engine, transmission, or differential oil onto the roadway, which might have blown back under the trailer and leaked far back from the bobtail.