Idiot Of The Week-Driver Trying To Beat A TRAIN Across The Tracks Causes A 15 RAILCAR DERAILMENT!!!

Who are they?

In my daily travels I see owner operators and other 'fast truck' drivers make more stupid/unsafe moves than I do from any mega fleet rookie truck driver ten fold.

 

A fancy, fast truck doesnt always equate to "veteran Owner Operator"... More often than not it equates to "I don't know what I'm doing... But I sure look cool doing it."

 

When I read the thread title I thought this must have been in Russia. Surprise surprise another idiot driver in the USA.

 

It looks like the trailer was some kind of mixer, blender, or pump headed to a frack site. On my bitty little screen I couldn't tell if the trailer had two or three axles. If it's three axles, depending on the type of trailer, that rig will have a gross weight of up to 110,000 lbs.

I drove a lot of Halliburton trucks on a drive away basis. ALL their trucks are specced out with a whopping 350 hp.

You read that right.

350 hp to pull up to 110,000 gross weight into the oil patch. All their trucks come with a 10 speed manual transmission and about a 4.55 rear end.

Looks like the driver made the turn off the highway in the dark, then underestimated his or her ability to accelerate. The rear end of the trailer got clipped. On that trailer will be a 3500-8000 hp diesel engine, big transmission and other heavy equipment bolted in place. The impact would have been something to behold.

 

I drove through there this afternoon. It's all cleaned up. Didn't even know it happened until I read it here.

It's kind of funny that the first responders took the time to write their names on the rail cars with spray paint.