Who is to blame?

In the end the driver is always responsible YOU are responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle at ALL times. A local sheriff doesnt necessarily know where a truck can or will fit and has such may instruct you to do so, but you has the driver DO! Had the LOE detoured you onto a road that trucks are not allowed on then you could not be ticked for being on it. But any accident would most likely fall into your lap has the driver. You might be able to get your company to not hold it against you but there's to many factors there for anyone to say for sure.

 

Just playing devils addvocate here.

You would be held responsable. if any damage occured to the truck or trailer. They are your responsablity.

I was a drywall hauler. and this is why I know.

same situation as you had accident, detour. I was in a
straight truck pulling a 30 ft pup trailer i did basiclly the same thing.
BUT I bumped the drywall on the pup trailer
against an over hanging tree limb and ruined 16 pieces of sheetrock.
So i got to the job site unloaded tried to explain to my boss and the contractor what had happened. after much yelling and screaming was sent back to get replacements for the drywall I damaged.

Remember guys cops don't know how much room you need to manuver if it looks ifffy dont do it!
Any accident to your truck or your cargo is on YOU not the cop.
Thier responsiblity is the safty of the general population. Not your cargo.

Anyway I had to pay for 6 ft off every sheet of drywall and lost my second load so it cost me about 450.00 dollars all in all.

 

I think I will ask here too. I'm just checking.

1) If you are in a truck driving on the freeway and a 4 wheeler rear-ends you. Whose fault is it?

2) If you go through an intersection and a 4 wheeler tee bones you after they ran a red light, whose fault is it?


It may seem like I am being a smart ###, but really I just want to know because I have seen posts here that seem to hint that really no matter what happens, the truck driver is at fault.

I think trains are kind of the same way. I think if a train hits a car that was racing the train, the engineer is at fault. Even if it is physically impossible for a train to stop to avoid hitting an idiot.

 

The bottom line is that it would be YOUR fault. It's NOT that the police told you to take the detour, it's that you could not control/maneuver your truck.

I used to drive 120,000lbs gasoline tankers with tag axles down some country/back roads that would turn you white (it did me a few times). Farm roads, residential raods, etc...it's up to YOU to maneuver the truck safely. If you cannot, then STOP and call somebody.

Example: I was delivering 12,000 of Deisel to a farm on a dirt back road only one lane wide. I got down the road, but I couldn't make the turn into the farm without taking out some trees, or throwing the truck into the ditch. I STOPPED. Called my dispatcher, who sent our best 30 year driver out to take a look. THEY determined that the only way into this farm was with a straight truck.

The bottom line to slow maneuvering is to GO SLOW. I see a lot of guys too worried about the speed limit, and taking things so fast that they let the truck get ahead of them. If the truck/trailer is moving FASTER than you can react with the wheel, then you're GOING TOO FAST. Screw the speed limit, screw all those 4-wheelers behind you, if you need to go slow, then go slow.

And don't let people push you around. If you can't make it, then STOP and call somebody. Let THEM figure it out so that you don't get charged with an accident.

 

What do you think would happen if you came onto a bridge that said 10tons max???

You are required to follow the police and highway patrol but I would have stopped and talked with them. Get something in writting to cover you know what if you can. It saved my butt one time big time. But no matter how you look at it you're responsible.

 

The answer to question 1; In the case of a rear end collision where a 4 wheeler runs into the back of you then you will be scrutinized to see if you were traveling too slow, were your trailer lights working, did you have the required amount of conspicuity tape on the rear of your trailer, and wether your logbook was current or over hours. In the event any of these was wrong then you will be held responsible.

Question 2; Again if you were over hours on your logbook then yes you would be responsible for the accident in a "t" bone scenario. The premis is; "had you not violated the HOS regulations then you would NOT have been there so subsequently the accident would NOT have happened (with you involved in it anyway).

The posts are not just "hinting" that the trucker is held responsible they are blaring it from the mountain tops with LOUD SPEAKERS.

Attorneys make their living suing truckers and trucking companies after accidents. In many cases it is the "perception" of wrongdoing that actually overrules common sense in determining who is at fault. This is why you will hear so many of us harping on "log it like you do it." It is really important for your career that you stay compliant. This is your LIVELIHOOD and you must protect it every way possible which means "STAY LEGAL."

It is rather a sad commentary that truckers have become second class citizens in many respects today. We are villified by the media, compelled to take drug tests (pre-employment, random, and post accident), must account for our every waking moment on a logbook to illustrate we are "complying with the regs" and are still expected to supply Americans with all their consumables.

 

I thing the relevant question is "will the carrier hold the trucker responsible" in either situation.

In the highway.. possibly, possibly not - that one I think could go either way.

In the intersection, it's much more likely they'll find the trucker at fault. He should have 'cleared' the intersection. That is, looked both ways at cross traffic and determined that everybody was stopping, before entering the intersection himself.

The rule of thumb is: If you did not do everything reasonably possible to avoid the accident, you will catch blame. Bearing in mind that Monday morning quarterbacks ALWAYS see the field better than the guy on the ground, you have to be darn near perfect to not get burned.

 

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I'm not driving yet, but I am thinking seriously about it. In fact I do have schooling planned in the middle of May. I do have to agree with the logbook issue. I wouldn't run over the hours if at all possible. I've even heard here that drivers don't want to move the truck at all during down time. I think I even read they didn't want to drive from the gas pump to the parking spot, but maybe that was a joke. Besides, after driving 11 hours a day, I will be ready to stop. Of course when I chased storms, I once drove off and on for 26 hours. But it was a car, and I shouldn't have done that because I did fall asleep for a second while driving on I-35. It was just one of those things like my eyes closed and then I woke up, but I was close to home by that time.


Other than the logbook, I don't agree that it is nearly always the truck driver's fault. I have seen youtube video of cars coming up in the shoulder and cutting off trucks, cars without tail lights, cars getting on the freeway and jumping over in the left lane right in front of a truck and then "break checking" the driver. If this stuff continues, trucks may have to put camera's all around the outside of the truck and setup a monitor wall like a Vegas casino. But then it would be dangerous watching the monitors instead of the road ahead.

Anyway, thanks again for answering my questions.