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

There are also a ton of Colorado DOT cameras along that stretch. I wonder if the investigators will ever share that footage with us.

Video cameras along that stretch -- Crash site is marked "Denver West" in upper right.


Still cameras:

 

Let me ask you this - you control the speed right, you see gridlock ahead, you get off the accelerator right? you start to gradually slow down right? So he was on the shoulder to avoid an earlier possibly impact? Bottom line, he was going to fast to begin with & drivers control their speed....

 

truck was hacked if its all electronic? ​

 

It's only a possibility, mere conjecture, which is all any of us can do.

It's obvious he was going way too fast on the down grade, but why? Sure he could of taken the escape ramp, but why didn't he?

He claims the brakes failed, but it seems like in his statement, that didn't happen until just before the collision, so when? Or, did the brakes even fail at all?

We can sit and offer all sorts of plausible scenarios as to what might have happened, but we don't know for sure, except that it ended in tragedy.

What I'm pointing out, is that it seems to me like he made one bad mistake in the beginning, then, due to a lack of experience and training, panicked, which caused a series of very bad decisions.

That doesn't excuse him, it's just a possible explanation.

I could be completely wrong.

It's also possible he woke up that day and decided he was going to kill some people, and did so with intention and malice.

 

I respect this response, you can't rule anything out but you also don't know exactly what happened...Hopefully the investigation will bring some closure to the unfortunate incident...

 

Here is another scenario. The guy starts down the mountain, realizes he is going too fast and tries to downshift, unfortunately he cant get back into a gear. Now you have a fully loaded truck, with lumber that are always heavy, going down hill with nothing but the brakes , that are surely to overheat and fade, holding you back. He told his brother that his brakes failed, did they fail because of mechanical problems or overheated/brake fade? This guy in this video understood runaway ramp.

 

That's scary. I remember training new guys and they would miss gears climbing a little hill in IA. Image a brand new guy trying to downshift while going down a mountain.

 

Here is an update..... See the guy whispering to the driver? that is the interpreter, again I say the guy didn't take the runaway ramp because he didn't understand English. Contrary to popular believe, You must have a good understanding of the English language to safely operated a Commercial Vehicle. There were a lot of things leading to this accident. Once he started to loose brakes and gain speed he could not go back in time, the only way out was the runaway ramp. Why would he not take it? Looks like he swerves left, almost hitting the pickup truck, he didn't want to go off the cliff. I don't believe he was suicidal. He wanted to survive, that is why he didn't hit the truck parked on the shoulder, instead went into the middle lanes into cars. Rear ending that truck at that speed was instant death. The human body is programmed to survive, can't say what we would do until we are faced head on with those decisions.

 

I doubt that. Other drivers said they saw his eyes as big as saucers and the expression on his face was sheer terror. He was in full panic mode. It may be he missed a gear and was in neutral (shades of Donner Pass). He was reported to have said he closed his eyes just before impact because he thought he was going to die.

Doesn't sound suicidal or homicidal to me. Just clueless how to bring a truck down a mountain safely.

BUT HERE'S WHAT'S BEEN EATING ME...

...in order to get where he was, didn't he already go through Vail and the Eisenhower Tunnel??? If yes, well he made it that far. I wonder if his technique was to just point it downhill and let 'er rip!!!???

 

You don't understand the topology. The accident site is probably 3 miles past the end of the official hill. (speed limit back to 65mph). doesn't matter it's still steep downhill. The first 3/4 mile or so after the end of the hill is probably still 6% grade and then it goes flat and seriously downhill in 1/2 mile stretches or so all the way to the T/A west exit (ward road). Even putting it in 10th (or 18th or 13th, whatever). won't do it. Fully loaded you'll pick up speed fast. This is my hood, been driving here forever.

The guy was in a FL century so older truck (you can see it if you do some freeze frame work in that soyboy video where it flashes by). so almost certainly a stick but again top gear won't do it. it's steep and he was loaded. . if you're in high gear, even with jakes full on, you'll pick up speed a lot of it and very quickly. High gear won't do it. You don't touch the fuel pedal at all until the T/A west exit. I usually run down 17th or 16th gears at 80k and it just barely sticks at like 60-65. (and i have a great jake). it's steep. And deceptively so. with traffic I"m usually down yet another gear or two.

The guy clearly smoked his brakes at the top (despite all the signs, flashing lights, etc) he was going way faster than 45mph truck speed limit. his brakes were smoked. He probably figured he could ride out the hill and find a long flat spot to get it slowed.

But when you come over the last little uphill and the speed limit goes back up to 65, it goes seriously downhill again (morrison rd to C470) and you can see all the traffic down below you and all of Denver spread in front of you. he needed a new plan and his choice was close his eyes and run into stopped traffic. he choose poorly. bad decision after bad decision.