Dangerous Trucks

[Robert]

A menace on the roads. Here are two trucks crashes in 2 days.

 

When God points the finger...

 

The Hume Highway is a 4-lane road, straight, on a slight slope as it climbs the Southern Highlands, not far south of where I live. The road operates under expressway conditions and has a maximum speed of 110 km/h. At 4:30am the other morning, near the Rememberance Road turnoff near Bargo, the 75-year-old driver of a small lorry decided to pull over. He made a mess of it, colliding with the guard rail and getting stuck. He was uninjured, and used his mobile phone to call a towtruck driver, the police, and his son.

 

The towtruck and the police arrived, and to protect the operation, the police closed one lane and placed one car near the site, and one 80 metres up the road with lights flashing to warn oncoming motorists.

 

About 40 minutes later, a B-double semi-trailer arrived and made no effort to slow down, hit the 2 police cars, lost control, and turned over in bushland adjacent to the road. The first police car was thrown through the air and hit the towtruck, killing the driver of the lorry instantly. He was unable to get out of the way fast enough. Soon after, his son arrived to be told the grim news.

 

 

Truck vs Train

 

Near Lithgow, a small town west of Melbourne, Victoria a road crosses a railway at a level crossing. On Thursday, a train with 2 locomotives and a number of wagons approached the crossing at speed. As it reached the crossing, it was rammed by a semi-trailer. Both locomotives and 44 wagons were derailed creating a huge mess. The body of the truck driver is still to be found.

[Agozer]

This is almost like from the movie Final Destination 2.

 

Was it about carelessness or just an another act of God, so to speak?

[Robert]

I don't know anything about that movie, sorry.

 

Semi-trailer drivers are often on drugs to keep them awake during the night, and there are many "cowboy" types who show no regard for road rules. Fatigue is often a factor as drivers are sometimes required to work long hours with little rest. The entire trucking industry needs a good shake-up.

[Cominus]

Yeah not too long ago some guy was running from the cops and he made a turn I guess and ran right into a house and the truck blew up, but the guy wasnt hurt too bad. It was like right in front of my school, well the side, I took a picture with my camera phone, and the next day some semi ran into a 2 story house, both houses were corner houses, and both on busy streets, you can still see both houses kinda messed up, I dont think anybody was seriously injuered.

[ken_cinder]

The largest problem associated with truck accidents IS fatigue, but it's not solely the drivers fault.

The industry is like bidding wars these days. Whoever can do it the cheapest and the fastest wins. Companies forcing drivers on double runs, drivers being made to make fradulent log book entries to cover up the fact they've been driving longer than they legally should be without a rest.

The worst offenders are actually entrepreneurs, as the little guy has to work harder to compete with the larger corporations that own thousands of trucks.

 

Yes, the industry needs something.....and it's called FAIRNESS. Mechanics have to work by an industry standard for pricing guidelines. So should the transportation industry.

[megaman_zer0]

Two trucks crashed into a minivan in my area a few days back. I think they were racing or something

[Mooney]

I my area, an SUV lost control when its trailer hit a bump, a semi slammed into it and spun it 180 degrees pinning it to the wall. Another car proceeded to slam into those two, and ignited all the gas that had leaked out of both cars. Then - Speaking of Marines, two marines pulled the man out of the SUV. Luckily, no one was killed, but the driver of the SUV was badly injured.

[Robert]

A few years ago, a man was towing a caravan down a hill and somehow the two parted company. The driver watched helplessly as he was overtaken by his own caravan, it then crossed to the other side of the road and slammed head-on with a small car. The gas cylinder exploded on impact, incinerating the driver of the small car.