Truck Driver Killed near Ontario Oregon

They weren't stuck... no one was - including me. Roads were in good shape, however the chain law sign was up. The chain-up area past the exit was overflowing - the last truck in the line was actually overhanging the left fog line on the exit ramp when I got there.

Agreed, that was a really bad decision to pull off onto a curving exit ramp to chain-up, but hindsight is 20-20. This doesn't detract from the piss-poor job of driving that the CRE driver did. There's just no excuse for not controlling your trailer.

 

Some photos from the accident re-creation. The first two are from Google maps. The last five are from http://www.ktvb.com/home/Accident-involving-pedestrian-closes-lanes-on-I-84-79309952.html. The refer is NOT the truck involved in the accident, it was being used to help recreate it.

The reason I put up the Google map images is that the article says the accident occured at mile post 374, but the images match exit 376.

The sugar plant where TransSystem is located is to the east at Nampa ID. The trailers were probably empty, as they were westbound, which would make them harder to drive on compact snow. It's possible that the driver got stuck in the curve with the doubles and had to chain there. In any event, the truck was stopped in the worst possible location, on a banked curve with just enough room for another truck to get around, if nothing went wrong.

Frenzy

 

Yeah that sugar plant is only about 1 1/2 miles from our yard. I see those boys all the time and know where they park their rigs. Definitely a tragic loss...

The suspect driver should have been more careful, regardless of the situation. It's kind of hard to miss one of those rigs, especially on a narrow ramp such as this.

 

You're looking at pictures that depict conditions that aren't even close to the weather that day. It had started snowing lightly that morning in Ontario. LIGHTLY. There was a trace of slushy snow on the roads, about an inch or two off of the paved areas. All of the conditions requiring the chain law were further west on Three Mile Hill - and yeah, Oregon DOT was justified in having the chainlaw signs up. It was crappy up there... snowing hard, and had packed down into ice overnight.

Everyone had stopped at the chain-up area just beyond exit 374, and the last trucks were actually off the road just past the exit. The accident happened on the westbound exit ramp at exit 374 - same place as the Love's truckstop. NOT 376. I was there. The TransSystems truck WAS NOT STUCK. They had pulled off onto the exit ramp to chain-up, and yeah, that unfortunately was a bad decision. Just the same, that doesn't excuse the CRE driver for not controlling his trailer.

 

Most Southern Californians (four wheelers) don't have a clue how to drive period.

My thoughts and prayers to the driver's family.