Trucker struck and killed by state trooper

The SOP's vary greatly from one department / agency to another.

Learned a long time ago you're no good to anyone if you don't make it there safely.

Same thing applies to setting an example.

 

As I read it, the possibility exists that there may have been no shoulder. Parts of I-95 in CT for example have no shoulder as well. Too bad, too, as he was indeed facing oncoming traffic. Must not have been any shoulder. I do not know the area, so I can only surmise this.

 

Even tho I personally know US 65 at this location has ample shoulders, a quick lookup on Google Maps will also show you that it does.
In most cases, the map data/images are current enough, to where any changes in road are few.
This image was from May 2009, at the approx location of the fatality. (6 miles north of Tallulah, LA)

 

How right you are. On all three accounts. My department required me to have my pov equipped and permitted as an emergency vehicle because I was a dept. officer even though I would respond to calls just as if I was driving anywhere else, can't do anything with a fire without water. I would code on 10-50 calls if unknown injury or entrapment, but like you pointed out your no good if you don't arrive safely. Arriving safely is something we need to work on in logistics, especially at the individual level. It is better to late on delivery than not to make it. Friends don't let friends drive fatigued-- you are your closest friend. God bless.

 

It was night time.
If his truck died, including the lights, he may not have been able to see well enough to move over to the shoulder.
He may not have been able to see the road clear enough to know he was in a travel lane. Perhaps he thought he was on the shoulder.
No reflective clothing, cop couldn't see him until too close to stop or even turn. Possibly couldn't see him until he was 20ft in front of him.

At night time it's also hard to tell what lane a car is in basing it only on the lights. You see nothing but black and the two spots from the lights in the distance. Could be in your lane or could be 5ft over in the adjacent lane, especially harder to tell if the road isn't perfectly straight. You don't know for certain until the vehicle is close. I've seen videos of people slamming into cars stopped in travel lanes of highways at night. Driver sees the emergency flashers from a good distance, just doesn't realize it's in *his* lane until he's far to close to stop at highway speed.

If the cop was going even 70mph, then he was traveling just over 100ft per second.

Driver probably thought he was on the shoulder and thought the oncoming car was in the lane adjacent to it.
By the time the cop was close enough to see the driver, it was too late to stop or even turn (think, quarter of a second).
By the time the driver realized the cop was coming right at him, driver didn't have time to move (possibly half a second). Or he assumed the cop could see him as clear as day and would move over. Perhaps he actually didn't see him. He could have been focused on the ground, straining his eyes to see where he was stepping while walking.

 

Only if he was totally night blind...I live in the country, and can walk down any unfamiliar street without a flashlight or a moon and tell which side of the lines I was walking on...even on the LA roads, the pot holes and pavement patches haven't covered up all the lines...plus most drivers carry some sort of light....even a screen from a flip phone lights up a lot when it's totally dark.