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Have you guys heard about the horrible crash on I-70 in Colorado?

I've been told that there is a video of him bypassing the run away ramp at extremely high speed. Also allegedly he has about 1 year experience.
 
"Aguilera-Mederos told police that he tried to activate emergency brakes without success and that just before his truck hit other stopped vehicles he thought he was going to die so he "closed his eyes," the affidavit says.

One driver whose vehicle was passed by the speeding truck said he saw that "the driver of the semi was 'wide eyed' with a terrified look on his face."

After the collision, he crawled from the truck as fire began to engulf the crash scene, triggering explosions and a fire so intense that it melted the roadway and metal off cars."


I stand by what I said. Bring back the 70's and the level of professionalism truck drivers had.
 
That's ok I wasn't pandering it just bothers me that the training isn't there for new drivers.
How many drivers now can even drive a clutch?
My brother in law pulls a lowboy all over the midwest and gas admittedly never drove a truck without an auto.

I wont own a truck thats an auto.

I know thats not the reason for the wreck, but if you cannot even drive a real 10, 12 or 18 speed thats a sign of your overall ability....
.
 
"Aguilera-Mederos told police that he tried to activate emergency brakes without success and that just before his truck hit other stopped vehicles he thought he was going to die so he "closed his eyes," the affidavit says.

One driver whose vehicle was passed by the speeding truck said he saw that "the driver of the semi was 'wide eyed' with a terrified look on his face."

After the collision, he crawled from the truck as fire began to engulf the crash scene, triggering explosions and a fire so intense that it melted the roadway and metal off cars."


I stand by what I said. Bring back the 70's and the level of professionalism truck drivers had.

For those that don’t know, the emergency brake is the same big yellow button you push in to release the brakes. Simply pulling it activates all the brakes(except steer axle) by dumping the air from the brake chambers thus activating the spring brakes on all axles

Definitely a rookie mistake.
 
How many drivers now can even drive a clutch?
My brother in law pulls a lowboy all over the midwest and gas admittedly never drove a truck without an auto.

I wont own a truck thats an auto.

I know thats not the reason for the wreck, but if you cannot even drive a real 10, 12 or 18 speed thats a sign of your overall ability....
.
I totally agree and they to train on 2 lane for a year before ever being allowed on the interstate
 
How many drivers now can even drive a clutch?
My brother in law pulls a lowboy all over the midwest and gas admittedly never drove a truck without an auto.

I wont own a truck thats an auto.

I know thats not the reason for the wreck, but if you cannot even drive a real 10, 12 or 18 speed thats a sign of your overall ability....
.
There are many drivers who can use a clutch. Less that can drive a 18 speed. If this guy had a auto trans he probably would have been better off as he could have dropped a gear easier. Id think he was going so fast and the truck got away with him he could'nt down shift to a lower gear. He was going so fast and it got away from him and the brakes aren't going to stop you going down hill with a load pushing you that fast. Remember that grade is steep and it goes like that for miles and miles. Follow any big truck loaded down hill and there all going slow, signs always telling them shift to a low gear, steep down grade ahead.
We had a idiot in a 16 yd dump full of asphalt come down the bridge really fast and couldnt stop at the toll plaza. Went right through it and hit another truck in the rear. If that was somebody in a car he would have killed them. The driver tried to say the brakes were bad except the brakes were just replaced.
 
Can’t find the link, but thought I read it was a 2015 Peterbilt. ABS? Just mash the pedal. When drivers start talking about pushing the button or mushroom or emergency, sounds like a fib to me. Why so hard to believe driver error. Usually is. Mechanical failure ****. Like rain causes accidents. No. Drivers who don’t reduce speed when wet cause accidents.
 
Aguilera-Mederos
Think the name says it all. Wanna jump on my case...go for it. Drivers have to have the ability to drive first, with a dash of common sense. The AMERICAN truck drivers needs to come back.
Tail-gating a four wheeler, don't get me started...except pull over for some *** whippin'!

In my days of driving, if some moron couldn't even keep his rig in his own lane, us other drivers would tell 'em to PARK it, until they could! But, that's been 35 years ago, now. Times, they are a-changing.
 
Looks like the semi driver just barreled down the shoulder without slowing down. WTF?
 
I got my Class 3 back in '06, upgraded to a Class 1 in '08, spent some time doing long haul through Canada an into the States...I do not have years and years of experience, but I have seen enough since I started driving truck! The biggest problem besides cell phone use, is that people have way too much going on in their lives, between the jobs, house, kids and everything in between...easiest thing to do is try and make up time on the road. You see the idiots, may even work with some, cannot plan the trip to account for traffic or weather...nothing.....just jump in and go, 5 minutes to drive across the city to go to work because they hit snooze 15 times! Need to catch a ferry at a certain time, just go 20-30 over the posted speed limit....that will work!! I have worked on the Coquihalla Highway here in B.C. in the winter, at the time the speed limit was 110 km (now it is up to 120 km), and these fuckin' donkeys will do that...in THE winter with compact snow and icy roads, just to get to their destination!!! And I won't even start on the "New Canadians" with ZERO winter driving experience and have NO CLUE how to put the "jewelry" on behind the wheel of loaded trucks going up and down that hill!!! My good friend has told me this many times about the new drivers (both 4 wheeler and transport)…."some guys could not drive a sharp stick up a dead ducks ***"!!!!
 
Ya, my brakes went out. I call Bull ****!
 
Looks like the semi driver just barreled down the shoulder without slowing down. WTF?
thats the part i couldnt wrap my head around.
watching the video,theres an exit he could have taken...minimizing the disaster possibly.
theres a lot lot lot of guardrails he could have been dragging on.
wrecked the truck over the guardrail even.

if something like this happened to me,
my first thought would be how do i get this thing Off the road,
and my safety at this point is irrelevant...
im driving a huge battering ram...with a lot of innocent people around me.

instead,this guy literally keeps going till there IS a wreck...and it was really bad.
i cant see any excuse.
 
Massive accidents like this in Canada are the reason all trucks there are governed to 62 mph/100 kpm.

62, 65, 70, that few miles an hour doesn't make that big a difference in the grand scheme IMO.

Personally I prefer driving with traffic instead of being a blockade to 4 wheelers, it forces them to do stupid things too close to us. They finally pulled their heads out of dark places here in Michigan and raised the truck speed to 65 from 60 while all other traffic is moving much faster, it has made a noticeable difference on I-94, again IMO.

I've been driving large cars since 1978 all over the country, in 41 years and a few million miles I accumulated 2 tickets of my own doing, zero accidents.

No idea what happened in this particular crash, and we may never know from the extent of the damage.

Don't get me wrong, there are some real dumbasses out the driving big trucks that shouldn't be.
 
The biggest road hazard and safety issue I face on a daily basis is CELL PHONE USE!!

I know that's right, I was forced into the left lane rumble strips while passing TWICE within 3 miles one day coming up I-75 in Ohio. Both were big trucks, both driving well below speed, and weaving all over the road, hence the reason I was in the hammer lane.

I always slow down when I see that because you just don't know where they are going next.

BOTH drivers were playing on their smart phone.
 
Ya, my brakes went out. I call Bull ****!
Im sure his brakes did fail. After he destroyed every lining and drum due to overheating from him standing on the pedal trying to slow down. Because he was going to fast, didn't use a lower gear and maybe didn't have the Jake brake on ( if he even had one)....I guarantee the state DOT has that tractor and trailer in there yard as we speak... There looking at everything on that rig, including inspections and mechanical records. If that trailer and tractor wasn't up to specs and the guy driving was just a operator, the owner is in even in bigger trouble as well....
I know one guy who was a experienced driver, a woman in a little car swerved into him, she got hung up under the trailer. He dragged her a long distance and never felt anything until someone started blowing there horn and he looked in his mirror.
He stoped and pulled the windshield out of the car trying to free the lady, until fireman got there.
After that he was a marked man or his rig was. He eventually repainted the tractor to try and avoid the police pulling him over all the time
 
Panic - Check
Incompetent - Check
Ignorant - Check

Bad combination of factors.

The bad part, that idiot had every opportunity to bury his rig in a runaway ramp and didn't! Those big yellow flashing signs are there for a reason or maybe he doesn't read english? I wonder how many times he drove that grade? If this was his first time, that one is a BITCH! I hated going into Denver with my Diesel F250 and a car trailer. It's really easy to get "rolling".

If anything, the only real good from this is one more idiot not driving a 70K pound missile and the video of him bypassing the runaway ramp should be REQUIRED viewing for anyone wanting to drive a rig. Better be in every curriculum for a license along with the aftermath shots. This is what happens when you don't use your fricken brain.

I'm sure plenty of litigation is going to come out of this one. Horrible situation which could have been easily avoided. Gross negligence on display in full force.
 
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