CRETE - A Year in Review

anyone else trapped on I80 in WY or NE

 

WSE is hiring students?

KH

 

They are hiring me. I leave next Sunday, November 8 for Arkansas.

 

See I was quiet....

 

jtrnr...you crack me up... oh, and thanks for keeping the secret!!

I'd hope I get to meet you one day and shake your hand.

 

Man, I am sitting here in Cincinnati at the house and it's nearly 80 out. Windy tho'. I was in Broadus, Mt. Mon nite and we got a little snow but nothing like you are getting. When are they saying roads will be back open?

 

Here are some facts regarding this incident:

Crete’s fleet includes 5,170 truck tractors and 12,482 semitrailers. In 2005, Crete’s fleet traveled a total of 635.8 million miles.​

Roadside inspections for the 12 months prior to the accident indicate that 3,808 Crete vehicles were inspected, and 447 were placed out of service (12 percent). Additionally, of 6,157 driver inspections, 145 drivers were placed out of service (2 percent).​

The accident rate for Crete was 0.64 per million miles traveled.​

He had been driving a regular route between Jacksonville and High Springs, Florida, for about 2 months prior to the accident. A round trip took about 5 hours—2 hours from Jacksonville to High Springs, 30–60 minutes loading or switching trailers, and 2 hours for the return trip.​

On Saturday, January 21, the truck driver began driving at 1:27 p.m. and continued until 6:30 p.m. The following day, he worked from 12:42 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. He was off duty until 6:29 a.m. on Monday, January 23, and worked until 8:23 p.m. that evening, a total of 14 hours.​

On Tuesday, January 24, he began driving at 5:19 a.m., making two round trips from Jacksonville to High Springs and a half trip back to High Springs shortly after midnight on January 25. The driver said he slept in the sleeper berth for a couple of hours while the truck was being loaded. Then he made the return trip to Jacksonville. The driver said he “rested his head across the steering wheel” for an hour or two when he returned to Jacksonville. He made anothertrip to High Springs on the morning of January 25 and was on his way back to Jacksonville whenthe accident occurred, at 3:25 p.m. ​

Prior to the accident, the last period of time the driver had to obtain significant sleep was when he was off duty from 8:23 p.m. on January 23until 5:19 a.m. on January 24. With the exception of a 2-hour sleep period in the early morning of January 25 and 1–2 hours of rest about 7:00 a.m., the truck driver was awake for about 30hours, and it had been 34 hours since his last substantial off-duty period. The DDEC showed that the truck had been driven a total of 13.5 hours and idled for 4 hours 13 minutes during this period​

The reduced quantity and quality of sleep would have made the truck driver susceptible to fatigue and impaired performance. Research has shown that—in spite of individual variations—a specific amount of uninterrupted sleep is necessary for each 24-hour period, usually about 8 hours, and subsequent alertness will be compromised without that sleep.

Additionally, sleeping less than 4 consolidated hours can impair performance for tasks that require vigilance.​

Fatigue impairs information processing and reaction times, increasing the probability of errors.​

In total, the accident driver made three and a half round trips between Jacksonville and High Springs, Florida, from January 24–25. Had he not been involved in the accident, he would have completed four round trips. Even with only three round trips between the two locations, it would have been very difficult to remain in compliance with the hours-of-service regulations.​

Qualcomm communication data show that the driver was asked to make three round trips on this route or at least two and a half runs, thus pressuring the driver to the outer limits of the State regulation. ​

Furthermore, the Qualcomm data show the location of the truck and should have alerted Crete that the driver was making more trips than would have been allowable.​

CONCLUSION​

The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the truck driver to maintain alertness due to fatigue from obtaining inadequate rest. Contributing to the accident was the failure of Crete Carrier Corporation to exercise proper oversight of the driver’s hours of service.​

I would hope that we all learned from this tragic accident.

​

National Transportation Safety Board HWY-06-MH-013

 

not sure they ..were saying monday on the cb

 

This was an incredible tragedy. Something that should have never happened. We've all been guilty of "pushing it" once and a while. Regardless, no matter what message you receive on QC or what phone call you get, the answer when you are asked / ordered to violate your logs is always ...

NO

No matter who sent the message or called you on the phone.


When I am driving, whether it be commercial or personal, my goal is to make it home safely. Not just to make it home alive. In my book "safely" includes everyone else around me to the best of my ability.


I spend a lot of years as an Aircraft Mechanic. And I can tell you that I've shut down overbooked flights without loosing one ounce of sleep if I was dealing with a safety issue.


If you have a DM that challenges your ability to tell whether or not you're safe to drive ... ignore him / her and get some sleep. Only you know how tired you are.

I've personally found myself unable to drive safely after being awake for only half the day (rare but it can happen) and if I was driving a truck at the time I would not hesitate to shut it down. No matter who's waiting on me, or yelling at me. It's better that the load makes it there late, than ends up all over ____ <- insert roadway here.


Just my 2¢

 

BDUKE, go back to the goodwill, all you do is put down OTR drivers on these websites! If you have something bad to say, go back to your hole and say it.... Im never forced to run illegal, so your facts are NILL... In fact, I really dont believe your even a driver at all, but maybe a CB chatter that we hear while delivering goods to your city! Your obviously in the wrong forum! All of your responses are JEALOUSY about OTR drivers and if you cant handle it stay away from driving! Have a good weekend.