Update in the Colorado case...

Not to mention illegal because Fmcsa regulation 391.11(2) states english must be proficiently spoken and understood to obtain a cdl.

 

He had to use an interpreter in court…fully

 

110 years,,,probably how long this will slog through the courts,,

 

I hope it gets reduced to 20 to 30 years. That's plenty of punishment. I can concede that he didn't make the best choices, but I don't believe he was appropriately trained for that type of terrain. I also don't believe there was intent to harm or kill anyone. I think the blood thristiness by so many people should be watered down and looked at objectively without emotion. Truckers should not want a sentence like this pushed through. Heaven forbid something happens to any of us and there was no ill-intent, and folks are already chomping at the bit to take down a driver and/or his company. Something that is this devastating can cause a number of companies to go under, and it's not limited solely to mom and pops.

 

He actually can speak English. It was pretty clear to me when he was making his statements in court. I'm not sure where that narrative came from. Perhaps his nationality creates the assumption that he couldn't speak English.

 

he needed a translator in court

 

Doesn't mean he can't speak English. It only means he has an accent that may or may not be understood by those in attendance. It's on video. He speaks English just fine, I've heard far worse than Aguilera-Mederos.

 

At the very least.. he either could not comprehend what those runaway truck ramp signs said or he just was blatantly negligent… On the one cell phone video from the vehicle behind him he goes from the right lane to the left lane pushes a pick up truck on to the shoulder at the same time he is passing up one of those runaway truck ramps…

 

Oh yeah, I saw the video a few times. Is it possible that he panicked and wasn't thinking properly? Is it also possible that he didn't have honed in skills to be traveling that type of terrain? My educated opinion suggests he wasn't trained very well to be running those mountains, and he ain't the only one. Nobody who knows what they're doing is going to do any of that shown in the video. We can point blame all day, but the industry has to look at these types of fatalities, and make it better in the future.

 

This. And a strong new driver training program that all driver training schools train to.