Truck Crash Colorado - With Videos

Bird, you can be sure the company training he received will be scrutinized. Every angle will be covered in this catastrophe. The driver will be punished with prison time, but the lawyers will be turning over every stone to find where there might be some money available to them. Some insurance company is going to have a big problem on their hands over this one.

The driver had to use an interpreter at his first court hearing. He does not speak, nor can he read English.

Oh...... That's convenient!?

391.11 General qualifications of drivers. (a) A person shall not drive a commercial motor vehicle unless he/she is qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle. Except as provided in § 391.63, a motor carrier shall not require or permit a person to drive a commercial motor vehicle unless that person is qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle.

(b) Except as provided in subpart G of this part, a person is qualified to drive a motor vehicle if he/she -

(1) Is at least 21 years old;

(2) Can read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records

(The above regulation continues on. I stopped at the end of the relevant portion.)

If it's true that the driver neither spoke or read english, that is going to open another can of worms. In my short lived experience, he isn't the only one out here. I've always wondered how strictly the law is enforced on that one. Obviously ways around it.

In Texas you can get a CDL manual in Spanish. Down in South Texas the signs at the weigh stations are in both Spanish and English. I've always thought that was odd, but it's difficult down there to know for sure which side of the border you're on. I bought a truck for my former business down in Brownsville, TX years ago. There was maybe one person at the dealer that spoke English. After we made the deal I went to the local Wendy's for some lunch and the menu was in Spanish! No English - I had to point to the pictures to order my hamburger!

I recently spoke with a Canadian driver who owned his small company and employed other drivers. He said there was a recent change in the Canadian training and qualification requirements. I can’t remember exactly everything he mentioned, but it sounded like federally mandated and strict standards to obtain a CDL up there. Maybe Canada is doing what Old School predicted could eventually happen in the U.S.

Anybody know more about the Canadian rules currently?

Every load I have had so far has been 40k and up. And I’m scared spit-less going down mountains in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. I would probably have a heart attack in the western mountains.

The ones I go down I rarely need brakes, I just use the jake, and occasionally touch the brakes a little.

But like Old School said, I see trucks pass me flying down and it makes me wonder if I am just overly cautious or are they being reckless.

No such thing as overly cautious. Your doing the right thing.

My personal goal is to never need to touch the service brake on a decent. I get my speed under control at the top of the hill and decend with engine break only. Ignore all those other fools bombing the hill, they'll never be able to stop or slow if there's a problem ahead. You've got your rig completely under control.

No such thing as overly cautious. Your doing the right thing.

My personal goal is to never need to touch the service brake on a decent. I get my speed under control at the top of the hill and decend with engine break only. Ignore all those other fools bombing the hill, they'll never be able to stop or slow if there's a problem ahead. You've got your rig completely under control.

Sort of. I’ll explain in my first 30 day post.

In Texas you can get a CDL manual in Spanish. Down in South Texas the signs at the weigh stations are in both Spanish and English. I've always thought that was odd, but it's difficult down there to know for sure which side of the border you're on. I bought a truck for my former business down in Brownsville, TX years ago. There was maybe one person at the dealer that spoke English. After we made the deal I went to the local Wendy's for some lunch and the menu was in Spanish! No English - I had to point to the pictures to order my hamburger!

Well. So much for rules and regulations and laws. What a crock! Welcome to America 2019?!

But like Old School said, I see trucks pass me flying down and it makes me wonder if I am just overly cautious or are they being reckless.

Grumpy, The answer is you are NOT being overly cautious! There are way too many CMV wrecks on our highways each year. The vast majority of them are COMPLETELY preventable. My goal daily is to drive cautiously, leave plenty of room in front of and on both sides of my vehicle, and try to stay the hell out of everybodys way! Most days it is a complete S#1t Show out there.

"You can go down a mountain too slow as many times as you need or want to, but you can only go down too fast once. "

I also try to avoid the need to use my service brakes descending hills, alternating levels of my engine brake to slow down or speed up when required... with the exclusion of slippery conditions. However, I disagree a little about ignoring those fools who race down the hills... I pay attention to what's coming behind me too, because I don't want to be in their way if they lose control.

My husband actually had a driver go off the road, crash over the guard rail, and lay his truck over a railroad track under a fallen tree, right behind us. One second he was in the left lane two seconds later he had a tree on top of him.

So yeah, I pay attention to everything I can. I don't let the super truckers alter my driving, but I'll stay out of their way and let them get to the scene of the accident first.