Driver killed when steel coil falls from semitruck

What’s stupid about it? the rules are clear in in the FMCSA guidelines.
No rule will ever correct stupidity. The reason the Alabama certificate was overruled is because the the FMCSA writes the rules, not the states. Otherwise every state would have ludicrous rules that we would have no way of following from state to state.

 

So what's the driver's excuse, I wonder?

I am of an opinion that the shipper should also be involved in inspecting securement of a cargo like that before it is released. After all, they care about the integrity of the product itself: tarps or not...etc. Might as well see if it is not a lame guy who secures it.

 

I go to a place like that now. Large skidded coils. 2 chain through the pallet, trip strap and 3 straps over the top. Each pallet. Driver has to take 8 pictures, plus proof of tarp.

 

The entire problem with this country is right in your statement. Personal responsibility is all that is needed. The shipper should not be required to check that your securement is correct. People simply need to be responsible for their actions.
I believe it would be reasonable for a shipper to spot check a a small percentage of all trucks leaving their facility. But to require someone else to nanny and baby an adult is 50% of the problem with this country. The other 50% is the “what about me” or the “but I deserve it” portions.

 

The goal is to prevent a coil of steel to kill a civilian. The shipper has a control over who they load it with. I see all these "truck drivers" every day. To put it mildly, not all them instill confidence. Assuming I were a shipping manager, giving a load like that to ANY of them would not let me sleep well at night.
That's personal responsibility. Hear me?

 

I've had multiple shippers tell me how to secure my loads. Only one time so far did it work out in their favor, because coincidentally it was what I was going to do anyway. Shippers are even dumber than drivers with securement. Pardon me, but I don't care that "everybody does it this way". I don't care that "you don't need all those belly wraps."

Just #### and drive the fork lift.

 

There should not be that much philosophy in making sure that the coil is secured properly, is there? I am not saying that they should tell someone in every detail how to secure it but before the truck leaves, they should inspect the securement just like a DOT cop would.
If I am a lawyer on this, I go after the driver and the shipper as well.
Look, the cause of this accident was poor securement, right? Could it, and if so, how should it have been prevented? Was it a blatant negligence of the driver? If so, the shipper, had they cared, could have caught it too.

 

At least once a year, I see on I94 in Gary IN, where the traffic has this pattern of stop and go, an accident like that when a coil of steel rolls over a truck's cabin, killing the driver. It is a regular occurrence. Those idiots do 75 mph where 55 is posted for a good reason, changing lanes left and right, going to a left most lane too.
I travel through there with my family quite often during summer when we go to Michigan state park beach, so...I am concerned.
I wish they let me be a state trooper there for a month or two...

 

I see what you're saying, and I could almost agree, except for the law part. The shipper should not be held liable at all. Once the BOL is signed, it's on the driver and his insurance company.

Look at current laws surrounding bars. If you as a bar serve a customer more alcohol when he's obviously impaired, and then he goes out and runs over someone, you're on the hook. It's complete bull ####. This should not be on the bar. It should be on the drunk driver, and ONLY the drunk driver. Same as securing a coil.

 

Ultimately, it is, indeed, the fault of the perpetrator.
I still think, maybe that's just me, that whenever something bad is going inevitably happen and I am somehow, even though remotely, involved (I am a shipping clerk at the steel plant, or a bar tender seeing that the impaired person is headed to their car to drive it) I would do whatever it is within my power to prevent that.
Therefore, I decided to cut down a tree on my backyard, seeing how it was leaning towards my neighbors yard where his kids were playing on the trampoline every day. Even though, had it happened, it would have been not my fault but the act of nature and his loss and his bill....BTW he did not share the cost. That's ok. My conscience is clear.