Devastating crash in Missouri

That is a sad story and a shame the boy has gone thru so much in a short time. I will keep him in my prayers.

 

I'm sure the big rig driver got cut off and had to swerve into the stopped cars on Hwy 40. Stupid 4 wheelers! I hope the big rig driver is ok....
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07/15/2008 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

At least two people were killed and several more injured this afternoon in a catastrophic crash on eastbound Highway 40 just west of Interstate 270, the Missouri State Highway patrol said.

Trooper Julie Scerine of the Highway Patrol said about 10 vehicles, including a tractor-trailer, were involved in the double-fatality crash about 3:45 p.m.

The accident started when a tractor trailer apparently plowed into a line of stopped cars waiting to get onto I-270.

 

Actually yes I do, for about 2 1/2 years now. GO TRUCKERS!

 

Thank God the big rig driver (Jeff) is ok.....My prayers go out to him and his family, I hope he can put this mess behind him as soon as possible and get back on the road.....
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St. Louis Post Dispatch 07/15/2008
St. Louis County -- Members of a northeast Missouri Amish community traveling to a family funeral in Tennessee are among the victims of Tuesday's horrific crash on Highway 40, when a tractor-trailer plowed into the back of the van they were riding in.
One Amish woman in the van -- and another man driving a 2004 Audi -- were killed, and 16 people were injured in the crash about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday. Three people remain in critical condition this morning at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur.
A truck barrelled into a lane of stop-and-go traffic on eastbound Highway 40 just west of Interstate 270.
The Missouri Highway Patrol identified those killed as as: Charles K. Cason, 55, of Caseyville, and Lydia Miller, 55, of Canton.
Sixteen people -- ranging in age from 5 to 88 -- were injured. A total of 11 vehicles were involved.
The trucker, Jeffrey R. Knight, 49, of Muscle Shoals, Ala., was not injured. He was taken in for questioning. Investigators with the Highway Patrol will be meeting with prosecutors today to discuss their case. The patrol also is expected to release more details about what caused Knight to plow into traffic.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...A920E451C08FB0FC8625748700773063?OpenDocument

 

You sir are a tool! This posting was brought to my attention by someone in one of my of ther forums that was discussing the accident and your comment is just plain ignorant. I guess you obviously feel ALL truckers are innocent of such things? That it is ALWAYS the little 4 wheeled vehicles causing all your accidents? GET A CLUE IN LIFE!

Have you seen ANY of the photos of the accident? Let me share a few with you! And you will MAYBE rethink your comment! (Figures I cant post any cause they "linked" to my photobucket account. But if you see them you will get a better picture of what happened.)

The pictures clearly show it took the driver of the tractor trailer well over 300ft to come to stop. And that is after destroying 10 cars and killing at least 2 people. In the Highway Patrol's accident report it lists SIXTEEN PEOPLE INJURED!!!! The driver of the tractor trailer was brought to the MHP Troop C location for more interviews and the MHP is going to purse charges against the Driver. IF they are going to purse charges against the man, I am reasonably guessing they have, in their terms, enough evidence to bring charges against him in this accident.

But you are gonna sit here and say ONLY that he has been through a lot? Jesus you are quite pathetic! What about all those people who's lives have been destroyed by this horrific accident?

Could there have been a malfunction of the brakes on the truck? Could have a 4 wheel car swevered into his path? POSSIBLY! But when you think about it, the truck was travelling WAY TO FAST for that section of road leading to the interchanger at I40 and I270. It took the truck over 300ft to come to a complete stop. And that is AFTER plowing through 10 other cars before doing so.

So if you want to keep to your belief that he is innocent of anything? You go right ahead. Obviously from your comments you are going to. But NOT every accident involving a Tractor Trailer and 4 wheeled vehicles is always the 4 wheelers fault. Do they cause some of the accidents we see on our roads, YES! No doubt! But to sit here and only greive for the truck and say how bad it was for him is absolute BULL!

I am sure with this being a Truckers posting site, I am going to be flamed to no end! But I think any logical thinking person, whether they drive a 4 wheeler or a truck, will understand my anger see the facts for what they are.

The biggest problem for ALL of us is that we are always in a hurry to get to nowhere! And we lose site of what is important to us. HUMAN LIFE!

Thanks for for your time.

James
St. Louis MO

 

Bullhaulerwife,

Thanks for the reply. I do respect your stance, and by no means am I placing the blame on ALL truckers. Like you said professional truckers do their job correctly. But in this instance, it is painfully obvious what happened. Drivers of 4 wheeled vehicles are equally responsible for their actions. I took offense to one person's comments about how sad it was for ONLY the Tractor Trailer driver. And that is just outrageous!!!

I have had friends in the trucking industry and even dated a lady trucker for a while even road with her once on a couple state route, and I can truly appreciate what good truckers go through. But in this case I have to fault this particular trucker. Had he had been aware of his surroundings and been more vigilant of the traffic ahead, maybe this incident might not have happened. I live in St. Louis and I drive that stretch of highway on a regular basis. Its prone to having many accidents.

But the line of site the trucker had was clear. The portion of the highway he was on a gradual downhill slope with straight visibility to the area to which the accident was involved. Had he of been more aware of what was coming ahead and travelling at a safer speed in rush hour traffic, this could have been potentially avoided. Or maybe only one or two cars would have been involved. But carnage he left behind only blares out loud that he was not driving at the speed limit and was not using any common sense in this matter.

Like you said Professional truckers know their job and how to handle their rigs. And most do it in great fashion. But in an incident like this, you have wonder what the heck he was thinking! I am aware of the activist groups out there fudging up numbers to make things look worse than they seem. I was a Police Officer for 8 years before I left the Job to get into the IT Industry. I have been on my fair share of accident scenes and I have seen the damage caused by both small vehicles and larger trucks. I just wish people, I don't care if you are trucker or a regular 4 wheeled vehicle, would just use better common sense.

 

I totally agree with you LadyRed, Thats probably the cause of the recent accident on Hwy 40 in St. Louis, a 4 wheeler prob. cut him off into the stopped cars......According to witnesses Jeff the big rig driver was only doing 75 mph, he would have had plenty of time to slow had he not been cut off...

Quote:
Originally Posted by roadkill439342
Sorry dude, but in every case where a truck rear-ends another vehicle, there are two reasons which can be directly attributed to the driver of the truck:

1. following too closely
2. driving too fast for conditions.

There is no such thing as an "accident".

Sorry, no matter what you say/think......MOST "drivers" (of big trucks) will allow for weather and/or road conditions...we will leave enough distance for "stopping in time", so to speak, yet there is ALWAYS some stupid four-wheeler who will cut in and take up that space, just to SLAM ON THEIR BRAKES, right there, 4 feet from our front bumper!!!

The TRUCK driver wasn't following too closely, NOR driving too fast, at 15 MPH, but the stupid four-wheeler who cut us off, who is a potential "accident waiting to happen"!!!

So, of COURSE, there is "no such thing as an accident", when it comes to BAD DRIVERS.....MOST of 'em are NOT truck drivers!!!

Everyone KNOWS, FOUR-WHEELERS don't have ACCIDENTS....they simply CAUSE them...IMHO.
SOMETIMES, it really IS the fault of the "driver"(semi)....MOST times, it is not....



To those who have lost loved ones in crashes with semi's, I'm sorry for your loss.

 

James although I appreciate your opinion this accident is a matter of physics! Think about how long it takes a train to do an emergency stop, It takes a train like 2 miles just to make an emergency stop. If I'm carrying an 80,000 lb load at 75 mph sometimes I just can't stop in time, especially when traffic backs up on a highway. 4 wheelers should understand this and not stop on the highway when a big rig is right behind them going 75 mph. Just ask anyone in this truckers forum...