9/13/12 - I-40 Westbound closed after Car vs. Semi head-on

I-40 is a pretty big interstate. Where did this happen? Some might not click the link to see it happened in TN.

 

The vehicle being in the wrong direction is a common accident, sometimes it is elderly people on medicine that they thought contributed to the disorientation. Years ago there was a guy who made it all the way from around Elkhart, IN to the Gary area before hitting headon with another vehicle. We even saw an older lady driving on the wrong side a few years ago, luckily they got her stopped. Such a shame.

 

This happened to a guy I went to school with, and orientation at Shaffer 2 nights ago:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...on-borman-expressway-20120914,0,3548382.story

He just got the truck the day before.

 

What a way to start your career!

 

He is so lucky not to have been hurt, it sounds like there wasn't much he could do one way or the other to avoid it. I know no one ever thinks they will have someone they know in an incident like this. Hope he will be able to get back to trucking ok, it is always hard to do after a wreck I think, your mind scares you.

I know I was leery years ago when driving and having a set of dim looking lights heading my way it looked like, it turned out that it was an old pickup with some funny lights on it. They had had an accident on Hwy 49 in the Camp Shelby area in MS before that of someone on the wrong side of the rode. I was traveling late at night with 2 kids and on Friday's when husband worked out of town, so the drunks were a worry also. I'll bet this may be what contributed to this wreck.

 

This makes me think of this video. http://youtu.be/GEQxUsR16jE


It is weird because seconds AFTER this crash occurs you can hear the dispatcher putting out the BOL for the wrong way driver.

The female officer seems to be in shock for a moment as it happened. I guess I would be too. Hearing that thud, then the screech of the tires...

OMG how do you guys do this job! I can imagine the truck driver having nightmres about this for years!


You see the car coming, a couple of cars swerving, then whammo!

Just overall really bad. I remember there was a HUGE and I mean HUUUGE problem with mostly drunk and sometimes NOT drunk folks driving the wrong way on the Dallas North Tollway a year or two ago. There were all kinds of people trying to figure out ways to make sure people could not even get ON the highway going the wrong way, but don't think anything every came about. I guess when it comes to drunk, they always seem to manage to find a way to accomplish the impossible! Just seemed impossible for any SANE person to get on a TOLL road the wrong direction and not know it. But they managed somehow. It was CRAZY.

It is usually the drunk driver that walks away virtually unscathed and kills someone else. In this case though, don't think they had a chance to walk away. Sad in a way for their family and friends, but seeing this stuff really makes you feel for the innocent truck driver trying to make a living and somethign likes this happens to him at 3:30 in the morning with actually very little traffic!

I wish more people could see how so MANY accidents are NOT your guys faults. I have seen so many people that try and blame the truck drivers for accidents, and surely some of them may in fact be due to a few truck drivers out there, who err sometimes, but videos like this are a good way to show that not ALL accidents are the fault of truckers!

God bless you all for doing a very tough job! It's all I can really say as a 4 wheeler. Most people spend about 1/10th of the time on the road and don't see these things as much as you do, and you guys are on the road all the time.

I was a courier in DFW, driving an SUV daily, I saw many many many accidents, as I was out on the roads 6 days a week, and all over the metroplex, so I do kinda feel like I share some of the experiences you folks have seen or dealt with.

But thankfully at night, I was able to get off the roads when the majority of drunks were out. Especially here in this largely populated area. The ratio of DWI's to unimpaired drivers is severely skewed in favor of the drunkards behind the wheel at night, and it's like running a gauntlet.

I guess you guys have at least some protection from these types of impacts by simply having the bigger vehicle and mass on your side, but can still be injured too. I am guessing in an instance like this all you would have time to do is brace for impact, and try to keep it under control. Looks like this driver did, and headed over to the divider. Glad the other truck driver next to him was able to avoid a massive collision with the other vehicles.

I spend a lot of time on You Tube as some of you guys probably do in your down time, and there are thousands of videos like these, that just simply boggle the mind.

Stay safe out there folks! And know there are a few of us out there who do NOT drive trucks, that really DO appreciate what you do and care about you all!


Be safe!

Steve