Just some questions came up after the I70 crash in CO.

That runaway ramp is about halfway down the hill and it's after the REALLY steep part of the whole hill complex. The speed limit for trucks (all the way down the hill as a matter of fact) is 45mph. for cars it's 65 and this being Colorado people are going way faster than that. he's doing at least 65 passing that runaway ramp and probably close to 70mph.

He cant make the turn at 65ish with all that weight and speed which is why he's trying to shorten the corner (right lane to left lane, like race car). He's not watching his mirrors at all, he's just trying to keep the truck upright.

He knew (or anyone with any knowledge at all about driving a car, much less a big truck ) that he was in BIG trouble by that point. There's even big signs before that that say 3 more miles of steep grades and sharp curves ahead (before you get to that runaway ramp).

 

Yet he is said to have told police his brakes failed “just before” the crash, not way back up the hill, which makes no sense to me. I guess it will all come out eventually

 

You can’t draw the conclusion that because there was an interpreter, he can’t read, understand or speak English. The cops have reportedly said they were able to have limited communication with the driver but they chose to call an interpreter anyway. I’m sure this is a common police practice to prevent suspects from saying they didn’t understand their Miranda rights or the questions they were being asked.

All of that aside, once again I think the language barrier helps the drivers defense more than it hurts.

 

I certainly see how that could happen. Unlike many posters here, I have never been in a runaway truck so I don’t claim to know how I would react. The cops report that ramp has been used 9 times since 2016 so he’s obviously not alone in failing to manage the grade.

It’s possible that this guy had never seen a ramp before, didn’t know what it was and in a panicked state completely forgot how to read English. I have no doubt all of those things are possible in that situation.

 

Here's the thing that hangs the driver: he went by that ramp well above the truck speed, and there's no brake lights or smoke. Colorado considers 25 over reckless driving, and it'll be easy enough to time his speed in the video. Even if he's not 25 over at that point, he's going to have explain why he was coming off so fast.



The other damming thing was his statement that he "closed his eyes and steered towards those cars."



If I did what he did, I'd be in a very bad place mentally. I've saved enough peoples ##### from their own stupidity over the years, knowing I went the other way this time? I don't really want to think about that man in the mirror would be saying.

 

In a brake failure, there might not be any smoke.....(doesn’t explain no brake lights though does it?). To me, he has to explain when exactly his brakes failed. Apparently he told law enforcement “just before the crash”. He might want to rethink that statement. Hopefully for him, that statement was never made or made before he was given his Miranda rights or an interpreter because then it might be inadmissible in court.

Lesson here for everyone is shut the hell up until you talk to a lawyer. No matter what he said he was getting arrested so there’s no point to try talking your way out of it. Especially given the state of mind he must have been in. Just say I can’t talk right now

 

The answers to your questions about the deadly truck crash on I-70

“Colorado State Patrol says with complete brake failure, you can’t see smoke at all....”

 

With a quick hard jerk of the wheel (swerve) you can put the truck on it's side. Maybe into the grassy area just off the shoulder (ditch).

I guess you have to think about it enough that you don't need to think about it when the time comes.

 

One of many options he didn’t choose. Probably for fear of losing his green card and brand new week old job