Horrible crash in Lakewood CO, I70 closed both directions. 12 vehicles 4 semi huge fire

You can go down a grade too slow many times, but only once too fast.

 

He’s out of Houston, which is very flat country, I’m willing to bet that he had absolutely no mountain training. I used to drive motorcoachs for a mom and pop outfit out of Salisbury, Maryland, and most of the other drivers were Eastern Shore guys (extremely flat country), and a couple of them came within an eyelash of having the same kind of accident as this one while driving in the mountains in western Maryland.

 

Still every trucker needs to pass the written exams to get their CDL license. In that material it covers very distinctly on how to drive through mountains. What I don't get is, How does one pass this exam in English and not be able to answer questions to authorities in English?

 

It is probably a defense mechanism against interrogation. Police and others are trained in a very specific matrix of questioning that is designed to extract information from those who may or more often be unwilling to provide it. Breaking up the rapid series of questions waiting on translation gives the arrestee time to think. And sometimes retreat into no comprendo or some silly brush off playing stupid or something against American.

Even on these little bits of video and what I personally knew from actually running those mountains and so on I feel comfortable that this one did kill the people. Why? Because. He. Did. Not. Stop. (Now if he did the truck probably would have burned in place. PFFth, bigger problems than that and oops here we are with dead bodies what? 8 miles from Lookout Grade?

Everything about the situation cries out lack of training. Ive always had developed a theory that the trucking industry does not train people. I put my Spouse through hell on mountain work just like my instructors did me. And Black Mountain NC was her graduation course. I said to her Ima ride with you down but it's all on you. You wont hear a peep from me because I don't know what else to teach you but this 5 mile mountain will show me that you know how to do it.

And she did. All the way down solid and stable at one speed in one gear no touching brakes like a champ.

And the last time we ran cabbage in a winter storm Im coming upgrade in that snow spinning a little bit but all in order while she was pouring coffee cream and sugar nice and calm no shaking of nerves in the hand. As if we were at home in the kitchen some morning. She ran that road 84 all the time without me really noticing any problems. Now that was a trainee. And she knew nothing about mountains in a heavy 18 wheeler.

She will go on to run bigger mountains like say Lookout in Idaho/Montana on winter ice between storms and did well. Gave me no reason to worry. And I am a most difficult passenger, a horrible back seat driver.

If that one can be trained, Im pretty sure anyone including this arrestee can also be trained and we would have no dying and losses on that West Denver road at all. Worse case scenario he's using the ramp like he's supposed to regardless of the citations and possible firing by the company etc. (The industry needs to rethink firing as a form of punishment for preventable...)

And training? There isnt anything that a trainer cannot teach me, however outside of the modern APU, processing of BOL and small important stuff like that. But I'll be a good student and take it as always. The sooner I get my rig the easier it is to settle down on the long hauls.

Yes flat land has it's limitations. But the beauty of Maryland is that if you drive a couple hours west you find mountains to run on. Big Savage near Cumberland for example. Sideling Hill is another. Townhill a third. all sorts of hills. Even getting to them you have a nice little one on the second downgrade out of Frederick towards Hagerstown. That one is three miles down eastbound and demands respect. And the westbound side was a treat. A vicious little 4 mile scoot pretty much straight down. We used to learn on that one without a jake truck in sight before taking on the bigger ones west.

Ultimately US322 Seven Mountains Hill was my own graduation course one day in three feet of powder. Unable to allow the RPM's to get too much or too little in about a 200 RPM range or you break traction. Once you do that that's all over. 8% 5 miles down, all of it twisty curvy and snowpacked. No chains either. Or jake.

My trainer was one of the best with me that day. If he aint yelling things are going well. All I heard was a affirmation that the situation with the drives were in a fixed small RPM range coming over the top and I set it up for that grade in 4th low loaded. We pretty much ran that one down to the bottom as if you were driving across to Somerset or some such flat place. I was happy.

I don't know. If this kid had better trainers we would have no killing this week. Something has to stop and be changed for the better. I don't know what that is because the companies toss the keys and say GIT. OR they mule a trainee for months on end while trainer is snoring or worse in that sleeper. And the schools? There is one I know of near Grantsville Md that will certainly give you all the mountain you want. And then more. If the school is on flat ground like in Little Rock? You aint going to see much of a hill to run on. That's why I focused on mountain work with the spouse because she aint had any with a 18 wheeler yet.

 

I figured this would be a busy topic, especially for people like me who live in Colorado,,,but it could be anywhere. I know it hits the trucking community hard when this happens. It's imperative we leave the race, color, creed/white semi tractor out of this. The more important issue, and I'm sure it's been said, is this is who is driving Americas trucks today. This is the end result of the driver shortage, and by that I mean, EXPERIENCED driver shortage. Can't blame these people, probably living in a cardboard box in Cuba, couple weeks training, driving a big rig in America? Piece of cake, sure I can P in a bottle. They want a nice life too. I don't buy the "too young" thing, I began in my early 20's and didn't kill anyone either, but this company had no business sticking a kid, from who cares where, in a loaded semi in the mountains. I've driven trucks for 35 years, and even to me, these hills are mighty intimidating, I have the utmost respect for these drivers that drag gas cans over snow covered passes, but this kid, A), lack of experience to start at the top of the hill at a reasonable speed, B), the equipment condition or lack of it, and C) not knowing what to do in the case of a runaway. This is the price we have to pay, if we want strawberries at Walmart ( or whatever). I talk to old timers around here ( central Co.) and they all agree, the mountains are no place for lack of experience and have plenty of stories. An experienced driver never would have got to that point, and if they did, would have taken some other action, instead of "riding it out" into a wall of stopped traffic. Oh sure, they'll hang this kid from the highest tree, but is that going to bring these poor folks loved ones back? And I've got news for you, as more and more experienced drivers call it quits, this scenario is far from over. Fact is, it's going to get worse before it gets better. I don't have an answer, but they are building like gangbusters here, and we needed those 2x4's. Quite a high price to pay for them, I say.

 

I saw a swift driver parked in front of a ramp between Flagstaff and Phoenix one day. I assume he was taking his break or licking his windows

 

The key is,,,,,,,Plain English.
You would not believe the number of CDL holders who cannot read or speak English.
Even though it is rule #2 about eligibility to posses one. #1 is being 21.
Willing to bet he had no idea what that big yellow sign with all those black letters meant.

 

Go into a drivers license office in Miami for instance and you will find out.
And I’m sure Houston and LA are no different.

 

theres a video showing a white flat bed truck. with the same white load. going down the mountain out of control 3 miles before the crash. he passed all the run off ramps. cant get link to copy, but here is the news report.