DPS: 7 dead, 2 hurt in fiery I-10 crash (ARIZONA)

Prayers for the families of both parties.

 

75 mph . You know ATA will make good use of this in their push for speed limiters.
We all pay the consequences brought on by the actions of a handful of Supertruckers

 

I find it hard to believe that the truck was traveling 75 when he hit the van, this would have been after crossing the mediun strip, not likely.

 

I just wonder how they came to the conclusion that he was going 75 to begin with, and in the case of something happening suddenly such as a medical event maybe his foot jammed down on the accelerator which did cause him to go faster. Did they get the black box out of the truck; I doubt if they could have the results that quick. It maybe just someone else's idea just saying something that is not true just like the 80,000 lbs of soda's he was carrying.

 

** UPDATE-- Not much new except they have the names of the truck drivers.

** Also I heard from the grapevine that the people in the Van
were from Parker but that hasn't been confirmed.

PHOENIX (CBS5) -Authorities have released several names of individuals involved in Sunday's two-vehicle collision on Interstate 10 near Salome that killed seven people.
The driver of the tractor-trailer is identified as Jose Mireles, 58, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
His 64-year-old wife, Antonia,was a passenger. They are from Laveen. They were airlifted to a Valley hospital for treatment of their injuries. They are expected to be OK.


The tractor-trailer was traveling in the westbound lanes of Interstate 10 near the Burnt Wells rest area when it crossed the median and hit a passenger van carrying seven people in the eastbound lanes, the DPS spokesman said.
DPS officers said the tractor-trailer was fully loaded with up to 80,000 pounds of soda and was traveling about 75 mph when it hit the van head-on.

The impact pushed both vehicles into a culvert on the shoulder of the highway, where they caught fire.
Names of the victims have not yet been released. Investigators said the van was registered in a small western Arizona town, but further details on the victim are not yet available.
DPS Officer Currick Cook said the bodies are so badly burned that there is no way to determine ages or genders of the victims. An anthropologist from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office is expected to arrive at the scene to help with identification.

Traffic was detoured six miles around the investigation at mile post 94, in Tonopah for several hours.
Stay with cbs5az.com and CBS 5 News for updates on this developing story.
Copyright 2012 CBS5 (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.

 

I tried to pull up info on the Tonopah, AZ crash and it looks like that area has been riddled with deadly crashes, one due to a truck the year before that could have been due to driver fatigue. It must be a bad area. There were supposed to be 2 fatal crashes in this area this time around according to one post.

Be careful and vigilant. You might want to read the listing for "Driver wrecks to save lives" in TR. Here is the news article someone posted:
http://www.journalpatriot.com/news/article_8957682e-da6b-11e1-9705-001a4bcf6878.html

I know there are occasions where everyone has been in the spot of the if I had been there even 20 min earlier, it could have been me.

 

It is a bad area. I have a friend who trailers her horse to ride with me in the Mountains near Salome. (a 45 to 60 minute drive) She avoids I-10 by taking Salome Road because people drive so fast through there.

The speed limit is 75 so a lot of vehicles travel 80 to 85 or more. While pulling her horse in a 5th wheel stock trailer she won't got over 65 so she's a sitting duck if she takes I-10.

 

The 'news' is no longer about truth and accuracy, it's about sensationalism and ratings. Doesn't even matter if they include any actual facts.

 

I went past there this afternoon and it was eerie to realize a milisecond would have made the difference between that family being witnesses to a bad truck wreck rather than the victims. There were no skid marks from the minivan but there were from the truck part way across after it launched up from the median. It came off the westbound side at a shallow angle and there was no sign of any steering input. It came across the eastbound side at about a 45* angle. It is horribly ironic that if it had happened somewhere other than the top of a hill the median berms placed to stop flash sheet flooding probably would have deflected the truck one direction or the other. So many what ifs...

Frank

 

If a truck has an EOBR the carrier can tell by satellite where the truck is and what speed it is going every minute it is in operation.
We had an O/O roll an empty tanker during snowy conditions . He claimed he was going 50 mph and went in the left lane to pass a slow vehicle coming out of a rest area. EOBR showed he was going 70 mph .
True , speed likely wasn't the cause of this accident but ATA will take advantage of it .