Tanker Driver Dies Swerving To Avoid Hurting Motorists

My buddy and his wife,bringing me back from Calif back to Arizona, I-40 from 12 am on........I kinda was giving him a trucking lesson along the way, on governed speeds lol he had no clue.....

Trucks were heavy in both directions, at times. Couple of times, when 1 truck tried to pass the slower truck, and couldn't make the pass around. I was explaining why he couldn't finish the pass, and got stuck side by side a bit longer....Was kinda funny they were telling me, maybe you need to drive, you seem to know alot , told em why!

Coming here and reading every post........We passed this 1 CR England rig, and a prime rig a few times, after we made pit stops.

Sad he had to lose his life in such a brutal way. Seemed to happen so fast once he flipped, until it burst into flames he probably had NO time to think, hopefully not suffer long! Drowning or fire is NOT a way I wanna go out of this world!

Man that is a scary crash. I haven't been behind the wheel of a big rig yet, first time should be in a week or two. But from the studying I have done on my own time, I think it's safe to say that two of the most important aspects of driving a truck is patience and safe following distance.

I agree that he should have kept his following distance back farther but i dont think its right that the person who caused the crash aka the matress king, is at the most just going to pay a small fine. I personally think that the government needs to be harder on the 4wheelers. I mean they regulate the trucking industry into the ground and most of us are the professional ones. I forget where i read the statistic, but over 80 percent of the crashes involving semis are the fault of the cars. Thats what needs to change.

I agree with Brett that driver was following way to close and too top it off he was traveling at speed with the traffic around him in the center lane with no OUT incase of an emergency. He chose to run at that speed and at that distance in a lane of travel that was dangerous for a tanker/hazmat load to be in I understand we all run on time constraints but to risk your life and other motorists lives to get to your destination is just not worth it. No load is that important.

On the suv comment about driving over the obstacle, if that is your thinking process behind the wheel of 80,000lbs, stay away from me driver.

We are the professionals out here we must anticipate the numbskull habits and unsafe driving styles of the 4wheelers around us none of them know what it takes to drive one of our trucks.

We all must remain vigilant in our driving techniques to be sure we don't "drive into an accident".

I feel for the deceased drivers family. I don't feel anything for him. He caused his own demise due too an aggressive and unsafe driving style. Fortunately no other motorists were injured, not what has been said "he saved the lives of the other motorists".

He definitely should have kept more following distance. I see it alot, trucks way closer than they should be. I do see Brett's point in that he may have had more options if he had not been so close to the traffic he was following. Like I said earlier, that's why I make a point to adhere to the three second rule. I might annoy other trucks or have 4 wheelers take it as an opportunity to get in front of me, but it helps having more reaction time and room to stop.

I still think the drivers actions were commendable. I wouldn't quite go hero there, but I also agree this was somewhat avoidable.

He definitely should have kept more following distance. I see it alot, trucks way closer than they should be. I do see Brett's point in that he may have had more options if he had not been so close to the traffic he was following. Like I said earlier, that's why I make a point to adhere to the three second rule.

You should allow one second for every 10 mph, plus one second more if you're going over 40 mph. So at 60 mph, the right following distance for a big rig is seven seconds, not three. I try to maintain that, and it really saved my bacon one time in Houston.

Remember it's not just your following distance, you should be observing traffic conditions upto 12 seconds in front of you when possible so you an react to what your driving into not just what the vehicle in front of you is doing.

Remember it's not just your following distance, you should be observing traffic conditions upto 12 seconds in front of you when possible so you an react to what your driving into not just what the vehicle in front of you is doing.

A better way to look at this is "It's better to respond than to react".

As Bud pointed out, 1 second for every 10 MPH + 1 for speeds over 40 MPH.

Now is it possible to maintain that kind of distance in heavy traffic, maybe not, but do the best you can. You should always be looking out ahead of yourself to try and spot potential issues before they dramatically affect you (not always possible, but try anyway). Doing this has saved me more times than I can count.

Ernie

If someone were to ask me what I feel the most important factor is with regard to safety out there I would say following distance hands down. If you leave yourself enough time and space to work with then you've got a chance. If the person in front of you slams on their brakes you had better have the time and space to get stopped or to maneuver around them.

If someone were to ask me what I feel the most important factor is with regard to safety out there I would say following distance hands down. If you leave yourself enough time and space to work with then you've got a chance. If the person in front of you slams on their brakes you had better have the time and space to get stopped or to maneuver around them.

Yep yep. I was very glad to have received Smith System training. It doesn't teach a person to drive but it teaches better awareness hence making a better a safer driver. Simple lessons really, just getting people to raise their level of situational awareness.