Texas fatal- pickup slams trucker parked on shoulder

It absolutely matters. When this case gets to civil court the plaintiff's lawyers will easily show that he was not legally parked (by his own admission he was not having an emergency) and his company will be found at fault in the accident.

There was a case three years back where a Swift driver had a breakdown, pulled on to the emergency lane, put out his triangles, and was then rear-ended by a drunk driver. The lawyers for the deceased's family went through the Swift driver's e-logs, bills, fuel receipts, etc and found what they claimed to be a fifteen minute mistake made several days before. They argued the Swift driver had no legal right to be where he was and that the accident was technically his fault. Swift had to pay the family a million dollars.

We are not held to the same standard as passenger car drivers.

 

Be a professional,.. get it?

Hurst

 

Here's a question to ponder....

We know there are some who will park on a busy shoulder any time for any silly reason and probably do this every day. Do these same people move over [if possible] for others on the shoulder who may or may not have mechanical failure? I think they are the same people (pull over willy nilly, and don't move over for others)

 

The all time Grand Slam of stupid in my experience happened here...

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.760...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sbAwRydS_gVm46BXkNP37XA!2e0

This is northbound on I-35 just after you cross into Oklahoma from Texas. The speed limit is 70 mph. I had just sped up to get around a cluster of 68 mph truck at the border and was about 1/4 mile ahead of 8 trucks stacked up in both lanes around noon a month ago.

As I approached the exit FOR THE REST AREA I noticed a truck parked just short of the sign noting Exit 3. He was over the fog line on the shoulder and started to get underway. I EXPECTED that he would continue taking the exit to go through the rest area so he could then get a nice running start to merge at freeway speed at the other side.

But NNNOOOOOO....

...at slow speed he cranked hard left to almost a 90° jacknife to avoid taking the off ramp!!!????

Then I thought, "Okay, he's going to get up to speed on the shoulder".

WRONG!

This complete idiot continued his jacknife maneuver to get DIRECTLY into the right lane of the freeway, requiring another jacknife back to the right to avoid getting in the hammer lane. I couldn't believe my eyes.

I pulled into the hammer lane when he started the first level of stupid. I watched in horror as 8 tailgating trucks approached him at 68-70 mph. I doubt he was at 20 mph when they were on him. Smoke was pouring off tires.

Was the imbecile driving for a mega? No.

I couldn't read the company name very well, but I'm sure he/they were proud of their business. It was hand written on paper taped to the door.

 

Thats why we have to always be alert and constantly scanning ahead and then try to anticipate what traffic is going to do or be like when we get to that point. Analyze the situation,.. then make your best choice as to what your going to do. Which lane you want to be in so you either minimize your exposure to any obstacles or accept the fact that you are going to be caught up in what ever mess is ahead of you,. and take the safest option available to you. You almost have to be a mind reader in order to safely make your way through congested areas.

People are unpredictable. To assume another trucker is on the same level of professionalism that you hold your self to is like biting into what you thought was a juicy delicious apple,.. only to discover thats its brown and mushy inside. Always expect the unexpected. Its like running through an urban area maxed out at gross weight with a 55 mph speed limit and traffic lights every mile or so. Logic says that you will get a red light. Even though the speed limit is 55,.. you know its safer to stay at 45 - 50 mph in order to not have to brake too hard when one of the lights does go red and you know running the light is not always the safest option. This is what being a professional is all about.

Getting the load safely to where it needs to be 30 mins later than you wanted is always better than wrecking your truck because you decided it was better to be in a hurry than to slow down and be safe.

Hurst

 

Thats something I dont even really think about.

If he's dumb enough to be stopped on the shoulder,.. I just assume the rest of his decision making skills are equally as bad.

Hurst

 

Amen, Hurst. I was going through my "scan the situation" well in advance of the imbecile and got over to the hammer lane as soon as I realized he meant to avoid the off ramp. This was not only for my safety, but to give a heads up to the cluster of trucks 1/4 mile back.

The problem was in that cluster of trucks, tailgating one another, only the lead dogs could see the hazard. I'm frankly amazed no collision happened. I'm sure more than one trucker had to change his/her shorts/panties.

 

I doubt that you ever will "get it."

 

Well I don't know. What does the tree's log book say?

 

Yea, you're right. Taking the rather large % of drivers off the road that shouldn't even have a license wouldn't help anything. Let's coddle them and give them a trophy for participating. Let them keep nailing cops, DOT, road crews, trucks and each other so we can continue to grease the wheel. The hell with fixing the problem at the source.