Trucker on Facebook at time of deadly Arizona crash, records show

Discussion in 'Trucking Accidents' started by fuzzeymateo, Oct 31, 2013.

  1. THE ROAD VIRUS

    THE ROAD VIRUS Light Load Member

    289
    149
    Jan 17, 2010
    Nomad
    0
    From my experience. Most HM tanker haulers will require at least 2 years verifiable OTR experience before hiring. This guy was no greenhorn. He developed some bad habits because up to that point he had gotten away with it. Risky behavior is going to catch up to you sooner or later regardless of how many years you've been in the seat. I sure as hell don't want to be driving in AZ anytime soon.
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. DsquareD

    DsquareD Road Train Member

    1,439
    857
    May 21, 2009
    Green Bay, WI
    0
    I know this is getting heated and it is clear that the driver is clearly at fault. But here's my question:

    A truck driver rolls his truck during low visibility, due to his own negligence, blocking traffic. Then a bus driver who is driving too fast for conditions and not paying attention hits the truck, killing himself and others. Who is to blame?
     
  4. KW Cajun

    KW Cajun Road Train Member

    2,383
    3,652
    Apr 12, 2013
    Copperhead Road
    0
    As if there wasn't enough "conflicting controversy", now you're adding fuel to the fire.;) Seriously, a valid question.
    They are both to blame. Both guilty of driving too fast for conditions, and likely other violations.
    But I believe the bus driver will end up bearing the brunt of the blame, overall.
     
  5. DsquareD

    DsquareD Road Train Member

    1,439
    857
    May 21, 2009
    Green Bay, WI
    0
    That's what I would have thought. However, in the real life situation the media and DA tried to put the truck driver in prison and nothing was ever mentioned on the negligence of the bus driver. Probably because he died in the accident. But still I felt he was at least 50% responsible.

    I'm not trying to be a jerk and not trying to take anything away from the OP, but it seems like the rules change sometimes depending on the desired outcome.
     
    windsmith Thanks this.
  6. DoneYourWay

    DoneYourWay Light Load Member

    186
    198
    Aug 10, 2013
    one of 48
    0
    i have LEOs and professional drivers in my family and after slogging through all these posts i must add my 2 cents, most of y'all are probably done with this topic but i don't care, this is just too obvious of an argument to make, i'm sorry for the length but i am still processing my grief over this senseless loss of life

    life is easier without second guessing LEOs, it is never helpful and often only makes life more difficult for everyone else, their job consists of dealing with random out of control situations where they are often trying to assist people having the worst day of their lives or trying to stop others from ruining the day for everyone else, they do this on a daily basis where literally anything can happen and it is their job to respond and resolve over and over and if you have not noticed--business is booming, sometimes these bizarre scenarios leave them no choice but to do what appear to be unusual things and it's too bad if civilians don't "understand" why or what or how LEOs do their work because as hard as it is for some of you to swallow: no civilian has any right to tell a LEO how to do his job

    so if an LEO needs to park in the travel lane or block the entire ding dang road then that is what needs to be done and it's on everyone else to not make matters worse for the rest of us while LEOs are working to put things back to normal, that is the way civil society works here, and for god's sake it does not matter what your politics are or how you feel about law enforcement or the government, you still have to obey the law until you get the law changed through legal process, it is painfully obvious to everyone here that this driver was not obeying the law, and he was the only one who was not obeying the law and he was the only one at fault

    i'm preaching to the choir here: when we drive on public roads no matter what kind of vehicle we are operating anything can happen to us at any time, we deal with all manner of things drifting into our lane unexpectedly, some folks drive like they are litter blowing around the road and they do it on purpose, other drivers do impossibly random irrational things at the worst possible moments and in order to stay alive we do often heroic things to avoid them, we always have a duty to everyone around us to obey the law and not run over people, and we all have the legal requirement to look ahead and make allowances for our speed and distances to others and things in the road around us, when things are in our way we adjust so we don't hurt anyone, here it is not that complicated, this driver did not do that, he is the only one at fault here

    if you are even considering making an argument in defense of this driver by way of attacking the LEO's decisions then you are as criminally negligent as this distracted driver IMHO

    this driver was not paying attention, even pulling over to the shoulder is dangerous when other drivers are not paying attention, there is no way to say after the fact this driver would have seen any other emergency marker or flare or well-placed police vehicle or anything you can come up with now because this driver was not paying attention, people parked way deep into the shoulder are hit all the time by distracted drivers focused on the parked car's 4-ways, this driver was not paying attention and all bets are off as to what he was capable to doing or not doing, we do know he cannot drive very well, and what we can say with high certainty is that if he didn't cause this accident he probably would have hit someone else further down the road while still distracted, therefore it is quite possible this LEO saved someone else's life through sacrifice of his own, so stop pounding the LEO for anything he did or did not do

    it is not an emotional argument to insist there is absolutely no culpability in the LEO's decisions here and the way he was parked is totally a non-issue, i am not insisting LEOs are "right" all the time because no one is, here this driver was distracted and he failed to see anything except his internet connection and therefore of course he failed to make any adjustments for what was happening in the road, it is foolish arrogance to engage in worthless capricious Monday morning quarterback analysis as you desperately try to make sense of human tragedy and tie it up with a nice pretty bow--please see the butterfly effect

    it is a fact that this driver was distracted and if this driver was not distracted then he would not have caused this accident, if he was not distracted he would have seen the lane blockage, slowed down and avoided impact like all reasonable drivers do all the time every day
     
    truckon, 77smartin, joseph1135 and 2 others Thank this.
  7. Victor_V

    Victor_V Road Train Member

    2,797
    1,494
    Dec 15, 2008
    Spencer, Indiana
    0
    This would be a nice point for the mods to close this thread.

    Thanks, DoneYourWay.
     
    KW Cajun Thanks this.
  8. DsquareD

    DsquareD Road Train Member

    1,439
    857
    May 21, 2009
    Green Bay, WI
    0
    I don't think anyone is trying to exhonorate the driver. It could have just as easily been a back up of traffic and he would have slammed into a pile of cars. Either way he is to blame and we all can learn from it.

    It was simply after the crash analysis that prompted questions like, I wonder what would have happened if...
     
  9. Guntoter

    Guntoter Road Train Member

    1,659
    1,520
    Mar 24, 2012
    Phoenix, AZ
    0
    Eye opener. Countless times I have had my iphone in my hand, texting, facebooking, heading back to the rack on that same road with the same kind of empty fuel wagon.

    I have met and talked to that guy at the rack in Phoenix. I believed the story about him looking in his mirror when it happened. This is irrefutable proof that he was on his phone.

    In an ironic twist, one of my best friends since childhood was a friend of the DPS officer. Small world and it can be turned upside down in a second.
     
    KW Cajun and Victor_V Thank this.
  10. 281ric

    281ric Road Train Member

    1,248
    809
    Oct 20, 2011
    TX
    0
    the news today stated that he was looking at escort sites and porn ... a shame for the officer that lost his life and this guys screwed up his life pretty bad
     
  11. slojon

    slojon Bobtail Member

    1
    0
    Nov 5, 2013
    post falls id
    0
    well the only thing I can say is it`s the drivers responsibility to recognize hazards on the road. something this guy didn`t seem to want to do. doesn`t matter where the officer placed his car he should of seen it. I wonder who he drove for. judging by his shirt I would guess harris transportation.
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.