Today's Poem (an accident)

Today’s Poem – disjointed and un rhyming

A trucker died at dawn today on I88 in Harpursville
In Broome County NY.
I don’t know what happened,
He probably fell asleep.
God I hope there were no passengers,
I really have not heard.

He lost control approaching the bridge over 79 and hit the steel two-rail bridge rail
(which tests show will hold a car or pickup truck on impact at *60 mph* but nothing larger.)
He sheared off all the rail and then
His rig sailed off the bridge into an embankment head-on.

At seventy miles per hour
You travel one hundred and three feet per second.
It probably took no more than three seconds or so from the time he hit the rail
Till the time he hit the embankment – the bridge is not that long.

I’m sure he did not know it happened,
I’m sure he didn’t suffer.
I can’t think about it now though
It breaks my heart and hurts.

We have an upcoming project programmed
Which will hopefully upgrade that rail to withstand a truck impact
At least that was what I asked for at the project scoping meeting.
But money is tight in the highway maintenance world and projects come slowly if at all.

I found out about the accident this morning at work before I opened my e-mail
So when that window finally opened
I had the delete button held down,
I could not bear to see all the system postings with the word ‘fatal’ in the subject line.

My cubicle mate of course perused the pictures online
at the pressconnects web site.
I could not bear to look.
I love her to death, but how can anyone look at those pictures?

I work in a government highway safety office
And have a soft spot for trucks.
I don’t know how the field personnel handle the real-life of the accidents,
I am filtered by distance.

Our highway workers on the scene all have a story
About the worst experience they have had.
By their tough talk you’d think they are hardened,
But I’ve seen those big guys cry telling stories
That I can't tell you 'cause you'd cry too
But please drive safely and
DO NOT FALL ASLEEP and
DO NOT HIT BRIDGE RAIL
Especially you tankers.

And everytime, I cry too
Remote at my desk.
Quietly.
And I go on, wishing I just didn’t know anything anymore.

 

Thank you LogsRus - I like your name. All of the above is true, I cover a seven county area here which includes some I81. That poem was truly a dissertation on my mental state that day. I hope just one driver read it and thought twice about pushing it when he is dozing. I hope I never have that frame of mind again of course. When I drive over the bridge (about every other week) I turn off my lights. The grass is still burned there.

Maybe next time I'll write a better poem.

I know the vulnerable spots here in my region, places where you just CAN NOT drift off the road. Places I keep whining about needing new rail, just like the bridge above (well, really, I whine about ALL the bridges). No one remembers that 'Mr. Ed' dozed off in the opposite direction at the above location, one bridge down the line about 15 years ago and died when he hit the river. A nearby property owner was so traumatized by it she maintains a roadside cross there with his name on it, still, after all these years.

So I understand from my brother-tanker-driver that most truckers just aren't aware that the only highway barrier system that is proven to redirect (ie contain on the roadway) a tractor trailer with a box trailer is a concrete barrier. Those corrugated beams, box beams and cable rails have all failed the impact testing for tractor-trailer combo's. You might see one or those rail types occasionally hold one, he's probably not loaded and just skimmed the rail. He was just lucky, in other words. A loaded tanker will not be contained by a conventional concrete barrier, they need one 7 +/- feet tall to support the tank in tipping. If you hit the conventional concrete barrier and are loaded, you're going over.

I'm glad you're thinking about the stuff you're thinking about. You need to send your ideas further up the line. I need to get an anonymous e-mail address and submit very specific conplaints to governments about my highway issues. But I don't have time. Arrgghh. We have to make time. I'm glad you're more in touch with the details of patterns of when they fall asleep in their shift, that is quite interesting. You could get an anonymous e-mail address too and submit your thougts to whatever organization studies that stuff more in depth, there must be some organization. We have the 'NCHRP' (national cooperative highway research program) that produces all kinds of studies about highway safety, i have one in front of me here titled 'Review of Truck Characteristics as Factors in Roadway Design'. And I know that AAA did the car-truck safety report back a few years ago. Early in the shift, huh? I don't get that. I whine for more truck parking at highway rest areas at project scoping meetings! Did you know that if an agency is in minimum mode (as most of us are), they will design parking needs for a ten minute stay to accomodate the average car - not eight hours to accomodate the average truck, and say they met standards. And the Feds say OK and give them the money. Yikes!!!

I think someday I would like to be come a truck industry highway-safety advocate. I'm getting a little tired of government BS excuses. I'd know just how to push political buttons to make things happen faster. Someday, maybe when I retire.

 

We had two fatal tractor-trailer accidents today, one of them was early this morning - he overturned, he must have drifted off the road (sleep) to have overturned. The two accidents were in two different counties of my seven county area today. I jinxed us last night by thinking we were getting due for one as I typed that response about my poem from two weeks ago. I thought the frequency was about one every three weeks. I'll be quiet for a while I think.

 

I'm glad you're here.

Have a safe day everyone!