Tractor Trailer collides with AMTRAK in Nevada

Discussion in 'Truckers News' started by Giorgio, Jun 25, 2011.

  1. otherhalftw

    otherhalftw R.I.P.

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    Sleezebag companies hire sleezebag drivers....the real question is why didn't the State of NV do something before an incident like this happens?
     
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  3. leannamarie

    leannamarie "California Girl"

    How do you get 3 speeding tickets in a school bus? In less than a year? That is a little mind-boggling.
     
  4. Diesel Dave

    Diesel Dave Last Few of the OUTLAWS

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    I went to traffic school years ago when we could and there was someone in the class that got a speeding ticket on a school bus and the fine wasnt cheap, she said it was over $600.00 and she only was about 10 miles over the limit, so multiply that times 3, wow, he must of been making the big bugs driving a bus.
     
  5. Sad_Panda

    Sad_Panda Road Train Member

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    From what I read in a thread, it seems that is another thing they are looking into. The company's safestat score is low. There are major carriers with much worse ratings. But now their is talk that the NHP officers in Battle Mountain, and there are a few of them, didn't do any real inspections during the 72 hours of fun.

    Which was, what, three weeks ago?

    :biggrin_25521:
     
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  6. Diesel Dave

    Diesel Dave Last Few of the OUTLAWS

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    [SIZE=+1]Driver named in fatal truck-train collision in Nevada

    BY RALPH VARTABEDIAN
    LOS ANGELES TIMES




    The driver of a bigrig truck that plowed into an Amtrak train in Nevada on Friday had five traffic violations since 2008, four of them for speeding in California and Alabama, according to records f r o m t h e Ne v a d a Department of Motor Vehicles.
    Lawrence R. Valli, 43, of Winnemucca, Nev., was identified Monday by the Nevada Highway Patrol. He was driving a truck owned by John Davis Trucking Co.
    The official death toll remains at six and seemed unlikely to rise as Amtrak lowered its number of missing.
    In addition to Valli, a conductor on the train and at least four passengers died in the fiery crash. The Washoe County medical examiner identified two of the passengers as Francis K n ox , 5 8 , a n d h e r granddaughter Karly Knox, 18, of Seward, Neb.
    A m t ra k o f f i c i a l s said that except for two passengers, they had accounted for all the people aboard the train. Earlier, Amtrak said it had accounted for all but five passengers, leaving open the possibility that a seventh person had died in the crash.
    B u t t h e m e d i c a l examiner's office said it had only six bodies.
    M e a nwh i l e, t h e National Transportation Safety Board said it has brought in additional experts to investigate the crash, but still has little evidence that would explain what happened.
    A cellphone found in the wreckage and believed to be Valli's will be examined by NTSB investigators to determine whether he was using it at the time of the accident, said board member Earl Weener. [/SIZE]


    [​IMG]
     
  7. sedain

    sedain Medium Load Member

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    "a bunch of infractions" what a joke..they listed every single violation on his record that they could find, they did an extensive search from what i saw in the article...and thats ALL they could find. he was driving alot in california,a violation trap in and of itself,stormtroopers galore.. what else was there? the seat belt violation (heaven forbid). his driving record wasnt that bad,and theyre trying to nail the company as well,but their record looks pretty decent,even w/ only 51 trucks. definitely not an outlaw operation. 7 violations found in 17 inspections,depending on what the violations are and what level inspections etc that could be anywhere from a great safety record to "good".

    theyre on a witch hunt which is understandable because a good number of people died,but to say that driving record is especially bad,or something to highlight is laughable as far as im concerned.

    at a 45 degree angle w/ the train moving at about 80 mph it would be EASY to not notice the train is coming,i dont know the intersection but others have obviously had near misses at that rail crossing,they state it in the article. nobody knows what exactly happend and we never will,the only thing that MIGHT happen is the detectives come up with additional info on which they can conjure up a better hypothesis of what they THINK happend...

    in the end one things for sure,we cant ressurect the dead, and we all know that the driver is the fall guy for anything that goes wrong in this industry,whether its paperwork,maintenance,load securement,on-time performance etc etc.
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2011
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  8. lostNfound

    lostNfound Road Train Member

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    The driver is the "fall guy" because he is the one that crashed the functioning barriers and ignored the functioning warning lights (according to his work colleagues, among others, who were wondering WTF he wasn't stopping) and killed himself and five others.

    I have spent several years doing picks and drops in California without managing to snag a speeding ticket... and I don't drive 55. My wife drove a school bus for two years (not CA) without getting even so much as warning, let alone a speeding ticket, but his guy managed to get three in less than a year plus whatever others he had? Not good.
     
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  9. drvrtech77

    drvrtech77 Road Train Member

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    Driving record not bad?? 5 citations in 2 yrs.. I would hate to see what your idea of bad is.
     
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  10. sedain

    sedain Medium Load Member

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    everything shows up on your driving record these days,seat belt,weight violation,light was out, warning, bridge law over length,bridge law under length, forgot to do recap,but not over 70 hours= logbook violation.. they would of listed ALL of it because they can,but he has 4 speeding tickets..which doesnt look good...but w/ csa,i bet the average is at 10 or more in a 3 yr period,with some having a good deal more and still employed..

    it used to be only "moving violations" showed up,but now EVERYTHING shows,and 5 violations is small potatoes. one of them being a seatbelt ticket...

    and thats 3 years,not 2,thats back into 2008. thats his 3 yr driving record.

    in my first few years i averaged about "4" violations per year, maybe 2 speeding tickets in a 3 yr period,the rest not even necessarily tickets,but stuff that would show on your record these days,but didnt back then.
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2011
  11. JoeyJunk

    JoeyJunk Road Train Member

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    Easy to accumulate tickets?! Yea, if you are an a-hole driver. Its so easy that alot of drivers have no tickets their entire career. Also, a "speed trap" is what Roscoe set up on the Dukes of Hazzard. A driver gets a speeding violation and it automatically gets called a trap. I guess this truck driver got caught in an "accident trap". The news report left out that the highway patrol were hiding behind a pile of tumbleweeds.:biggrin_2559:
     
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