Trucker on Facebook at time of deadly Arizona crash, records show

I don't know if has been mentioned before, but if you look closely at the video, just prior to impact,
you can see a trooper (with reflective vest) moving away from the roadway past the shoulder of the road.
I had noticed him on the video when it first posted, but in the midst of debates, I overlooked mentioning it.

Tho it's not known for certain, this appears likely to be the driver/trooper of the 1st state police unit struck, that was blocking the traffic lane.
This trooper was not struck or killed. It appears he had been walking away from his vehicle.
The trooper who was killed apparently was in another state police unit on the shoulder ahead.

EDIT: Added video capture (still photo) below.

I agree Don. Very sickening to watch. Tho hard to say with any certainty, that scene appeared to be "formed/occupied" much sooner than any "large mass vehicle/barrier" could have been deployed. It would be surprising to me if they had been there any significant length of time.

 

Post 46 .

 

This is just a tragedy beyond words. As I have been reading down through the thread I was thinking about how uncomfortable I have always felt whenever I have had to pull over on the shoulder with the traffic as close as it is, within the last year I was in my car and had to pull off on to the shoulder and realized that in the car I felt that I was in extreme danger and couldn't wait to get moving, in the truck we have the trailer behind us and it doesn't jump out at you just how much danger that you are really in, (trailer being kind of a barrier, if you were rear ended).

I think back to years ago when you would happen upon an accident scene, it wasn't uncommon to see the police cars well off the shoulder out in the grass, and fusees everywhere, (in the travel portion of the roadway). When they came out with the catalytic convertors they generated so much heat, that everyone was warned to keep them out of the grass, I don't know of any accident scenes in recent years that I have come upon where the cars are out in the grass out of harms way. In addition, back in those days, it was common for troopers to have a case of fusees in the trunk of their car just for these situations.

My thought is this, why not use some of our expertise on the catalytic convertors that we use on aircraft routinely, and make a heat shield around the catalytic convertor, so that parking on the grass would not be a problem, at least on police cars as part of the police package, then we could get these cars back off the shoulder in the grass and use the fusees on the travel portion of the road, I have even been asked before and have witnessed others being asked before by a trooper, to please go in to the trunk and replenish a few nearly burned out fusees while he kept focus on the accident investigation, it seemed they always left the trunk lid open at a scene.

My only irritation about the fusees was the nail that was in the back end, they would light them, heat the pavement with them, then stick the nail end in to the pavement so that it would hold them upright, invariably when the sight was cleared and everyone was starting to roll, you could look down and see the fusee nails left in the pavement sticking up just waiting in the ready position for the first tire to roll across. I am sure that they could come up with a solid base made out of stiff cardboard or plastic and do away with the nail.

I would have no problem with law enforcement buying fusees by the semi load even at greater expense, to never again have to know that this has happened again, I can think of two other times where a trooper was killed by moving traffic like this within the last year, I am all for getting these guys back in the grass whenever possible, and out of this danger.

 

Sorry, but the trooper's positioning was as it should be. He was doing what is taught in LEO 101 Traffic Accident response. Protecting the scene. This is done by parking your emergency vehicle in a manner that puts it in the way of other traffic to disturb or harm those you're there to assist.

Again they done nothing of the sort!!! The only thing the troopers done, were their jobs, and how they were trained and probably required to do. Your ignorance to things like this is clearly obvious. It is also why there's ridiculous settlements in civil cases. There's way too many ignorant people running around, making up things and then believing them to be facts.
What happens in small rural areas, that may only have 1 or 2 officers available? I'll tell ya', you do the best you can with what you have. Park your car, in the lane of those speeding idiots, and pray that fools like that driver don't come you're way. That's what. Then when something does happen, we have ignorant people like you to look forward to, that only want to destroy.

See above, how did you get to drive? Oh just like the driver in the video huh..

 

not4hire,
Thanks for pointing out your earlier post (#46).
I had looked back in the 100 post thread, but obviously not back to the #40's range,
hence the reason I began my post with the line "I don't know if has been mentioned before...".
I now see your post came in while I was in a rather intense back & forth debate with 2 other posters. Good to see those details had been mentioned.

 

no really) impossible, becouse... trafic is so crazy that no one can surf the internet when truck runs. It is not all, roads are usually so rought that it is really impossible.

In my country trucks crash becouse of bad road conditions, crazy four wheeler drivers, DUI, bad brakes, steering, but not becouse someone use smart phong on road.

 

He may have positioned his car where he was instructed by his superiors but I would be willing to bet that this practice will be evaluated and changed. Ive seen this type of accident many times. In upstate NY in the town of North Hudson there use to be an area where they stopped traffic directly on the interstate to do customs checks, flashing strobes, rumble strips, bright lights everywhere and still multiple deaths until the state stopped them from doing it. The danger the officer creates with putting his car where he did not only for himself but what IF the scumbag in the truck here decided to look up at the last minute and swerve out into the left lane? This creates the danger for everyone behind him in cars with no where to go oblivious to whats ahead until the last second. I am by no means defending this guy in the truck or flaming the officer for doing what he did. I am just saying that there is safer and more effective ways to protect a scene like this that other states practice and hopefully Az. will to.

 

That's not always possible, especially when you first arrive on scene. Until people can be treated and moved/removed, and cars, debris can be moved, this is what must be done. So let me pose this;
You're the one involved in an accident. You're in your car, can't get out on your own, trapped or due to injury. There's traffic whizzing by, LEO shows up, most of the time LEO beats the EMS. Would you prefer him/her to park their car on the shoulder and let you sit out there in the open, waiting to be creamed by a driver like the one in the video? I"ll bet not. IF the LEO done that, if you survive you'll sue the LEO and the agency. If you don't, then your family will sue them. You get the point? LEOs know this, and opt for trying to provide some protection. By the sounds if it, the old adage still flies, darned if you do, darned if you don't. You're getting sued by some ignorant idiot anyways!!

 

I agree with Eaton18, but let me add some additional points on the 3 bolded lines...

(1.) LEOs are trained for emergency traffic control & traffic safety, however there is no specific "must be positioned here" standard, for every single various scenario.
Emergency scenes can vary widely, so an officer must use his best judgement of positioning, on each individual scene. Simply "real world" fact.

(2.) You listed a quite different scenario. The one you listed is not an "emergency scene" and is well planned in advance. Night & day different.

(3.) That can occur regardless if the officer was positioned close to the scene, or 50 to 100 yards prior to the scene. It can also occur with no officer present, at a point where there is an inward "intrusion" of arrow signs into the right lane (to protect the emergency scene on the shoulder) that is so common with any construction roadwork. Even then, people wait to the last 10' to swerve over, many times.
But the primary point is... if there is nothing blocking/protecting the right lane, then the emergency crew on the shoulder are always at considerable high risk.

 

Too much gratuitous dissection here.

Tea leaves and sacrificial goat entrails.

Ugh!