Just some questions came up after the I70 crash in CO.

I hope no one takes what I'm about to say wrongly... It is not me defending him, or dismissing the victims. It is simply a look at what surely must be on the other side of the coin.

I feel so bad for this kid... Here he is trying to live the American dream, and instead ends up killing several people and almost killed himself.

I can't even begin to imagine the terror he must have felt as he came to the realization that he was about to die, let alone that others were going to die with him because of his actions.

Now he has somehow survived what few live to talk about... But has ended the lives of several others. I'm sure he is devastated, possibly suicidal because of this event and the results thereof. On top of that I'm sure the families of the deceased want him burned at the stake, crucified, hung, ECT. I'm sure this all weighs heavily upon his every thought.

And now he has to live with the knowledge of what he did, the lives he ended, and the pain of actually surviving.

Regardless of what the law does to this kid... He will suffer for the rest of his life. If I were in his shoes I would probably being wishing I had died as well. No punishment that Man can hand down will ever come close to the punishment he will put himself through.

God's Speed to the Deceased.

My thoughts and prayers to the families and the injured.

And finally...

May God have Mercy on this tortured kids Soul.

 

The moment American Courthouse says to this kid

"You are free to go, we have no further business with you."

He is going straight back to Cuba to enjoy the banned cigars and a host of other very simple and free living unencumbered by the horrors and limitations of living in the USA.

We all do things in life. Sometimes it does not go well. I have a handful of very powerful strong feelings that are pretty poorly about some of those things that were botched in life. I'm over it. However it took years. And a form of forgetting plus forgiving those who did some damage.

I'm pretty sure runaway kid must be feeling pretty badly. And a part of me says of course he feels bad. If he is any human at all he ought feel bad. I would prefer after this is over and done with this industry takes a hard look at itself and decide to put nothing but qualified people behind the wheel and send no one into the mountain without adequate mountain training which includes encouragement and lessons on downhill problems. In American English, written and verbal.

If the United States wants that giant yellow Don't be Fooled truckers sign on the interstate to be bilingual they would have written out a spanish version under it. Maybe it's time to do that.

 

What I want to know is why does a trucking company not have to stand behind their driver when something like this happens?

You hired that driver, (you possibly trained that driver), you should have to send an attorney to represent that driver. Instead, you abandon that driver and hang them out to dry and leave them to fend for themselves.

That’s what I don’t understand about the trucking industry.

You want a driver to fill your seat, but you oppress that driver with crappy tires, you oppress that driver with substandard equipment, you oppress that driver with cameras, and annoying, obnoxious and DISTRACTING lane departure garbage, you run him/her ragged to the ends of the continent and back, always pushing them to roll precisely on their 10 hours regardless of whether they are out on the road or on a dedicated route and home every night, you push that driver to use every minute of his/her 11 hour driving clock and 14 hour on duty clock, you use every means necessary to NOT pay him/her a fair wage and good benefits and then first time something happens...you abandon him and leave him to fend for him/herself.

This is part of why I have a drivers legal plan. Because that company isn’t going to give a rats yip about me or lift a finger to help me.

The trucking industry needs reform and badly.

 

"Air disasters" is nothing more than Hollywood jazzing up a story for riches. With over 10,000 flights/day ( sometimes there's 10-15 contrails over the Colorado skies) I heard, you have a greater risk getting hurt or killed on the way TO the airport. I love flying, it's the airports I can't handle.

 

You can ride the brakes ALL DAY without them over heating !! You use the bakes to get down the hill. Then you use engine bakes if you want to go faster ! This way you can go down any hill without a problem

Everyone seems to forget or maybe they don't know that's drum brakes dissipate heat. If you stay under that limit the amount of brake pressure you apply. You can ride the brakes ALL DAY. If you go over that limit you will be making more heat then the drums can dissipate and YOU make them overheat.

Does everyone know what the limit is ? It's 10 psi of applied brake pressure. That's the magic number, so if you go down a hill with just the bakes 10 psi or less is fastest you can go for any hill with any load.

You want to go FASTER ! If you have engine brake, you turn it on and let it roll to the point of holding the truck and trailer and load back with 10psi. That how you go faster downhill with engine brake on. Your not relying on the engine brake, it just let's you go faster because your using less brake pressure to hold the truck and trailer and load back.

You go downhill with low RPMs if driving a manual transmission because in the snow and ice you don't want really went engine bakes and if you need to slow down and drop a gear it much easier at low RPMs

If you notice the brake pressure going above 10psi is not holding the truck back that's you early warming you getting the drums too HOT. It basically a temperature gauge on you drum brakes you can tell you getting them to hot and need to slow down and drop a gear or two.

 

Old timer told me, it shouldn't take more than 10psi of application to make a safe stop. Trouble was, all the company trucks I drove never had an application gauge.

 

That's part of the problem, the Applied air brake pressure gauge is an option. Trucking companies that don't run the mountains never get the gauge. I ran for mega company that ran the mountains and they had that gauge in the trucks because that how the teach the new drivers to go over the mountains.

 

Finally someone gets it, going down a steep grade with the engine at high rpms depending on the jakes is a disaster waiting to happen, especially if you hit a patch of slick ice. I drove a lot of trucks before I ever had a chance to drive one with jakes. I have had jakes cut out and just quit before too, and if you are in a position that you are depending on them, you could very well find yourself in a bind real quick and have to grab a couple of gears real quick to keep from overspeeding your engine, at which point you may be a couple of gears too high and will have to over work your brakes to get back to a comfortable speed.
There are still trucks that do not have a jake, I ran the Alcan a few years ago with an OO whose truck had not been speced with jakes, he would turn his fan on on down grades for a little help.

To the poster asking why companies are not responsible and have to stand behind their driver, they and their insurance companies are responsible for anything that driver does and it has always been like that. Who do you think pays for all the carnage and multiple lawsuits.
If you view trucking the way you seem to in your post, I got to ask why you even stay in this business?

Another thing, these things have happened as long as their have been trucks, probably happened a few times with horses and wagons, and this will not be the last time either.
It is not always a new guy, it is not always an immigrant, it sure can't always be blamed on the truck.

 

Indeed. But while he's mostly correct, he acts as if there be no other symptoms, when that's not reality. The extreme example of a failed service supply tank: an attentive driver would hear the excess airflow passing through the valves, and should notice the rapid fluctuations in the truck air pressure as the compressor cycles. A valve failure would be noticed on the first stop as the stopping distance increase would be noticeable. Of course it's possible for a failure to occur right when the brakes are needed most, but far more often, the warning signs were there and ignored by the driver.

That's not to say that he doesn't have a valid point about the lack of any warning indicators for trailer brake functionality or trailer air pressure issues.

 

Great Post! I couldn't have said it better myself.

Why<is the question....

Simple.....Since even before Deregulation....Trucking (Non Union) Always had this "Ma and Pa" Feeling to it, As If nothing's Cut in Stone- No Merit or Dotted I's and Crossed T's.

It Was even Worse in the 80's and 90's...before E-logs- before Stringent Inspections-

Carriers STILL (Like you say) Kill the Driver- Then Abandon them!! NO REPRESENTATION Whatsoever.....

Old Hag out in the Country in the late 80's trying to run a 10 truck operation- Nothing But Screaming and Yelling- No Benefits- You Messed up- Park the Truck- No Paycheck No Nothing.And you got Screamed at and Possibly Slapped.

See,Drivers STILL think They deserve that Kinda abuse- A "Relaxed" Way to Let the Owners Do Whatever they want.

Ive Always said to the Younger Kids just starting out in Trucking....."If this is what you want to do, Get in with the Teamsters"