This deadly accident kept me from getting home til after midnight on Monday...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

One man is dead and another is fighting for his life.

From the WP article:
Authorities said Scofield had been driving for several hours and might have been fatigued. Under federal law, commercial truck drivers are barred from working more than 11 consecutive hours and are required to take a 10-hour break after 11 hours on the road. Drivers are permitted to work no more than 60 hours in a week and no more than 70 hours over an eight-day period.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000637.html

I have a brother who does freelance delivery work on a regular basis for people who are too damned cheap to pay union scale/benefits. Interestingly, the White House is a regular customer.

My brother tells me about weeks where he's driven 90 hours, trips to Atlanta and back followed by trips to Boston and back, then Atlanta again. Sometimes he gets as little as 2-3 hours of sleep before he's back on the road. I've expressed my concern about this many times; and he dismisses it, saying he pulls over and rests when he gets drowsy.

Having seen the pic of this terrible accident, I'm thinking I need to send the article to my brother to read. It's horrid enough to think of my brother losing his life in a wreck; but it's even worse to think he might take some innocent life as well...

Sorry for the vent. Just had to get it off my chest.

[Shine]

1. Wow! Glad you're OK

:hug:

you should definitely send the article to your bro, imo.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. I was lucky to be on the other side of the Beltway

They shut down my side for about an hour while Med-Vac helicopters were there. The other side was closed for 6 hours. :-(

[Gormy Cuss]

2. How horrid.

One of my sibs worked as traffic manager for a short haul service and they toed the line with the regulations. At least once a year they fired a driver for being too cavalier about the rules. It costs them in the short run but in the greater scheme of things they had no fatality accident in seven years.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. The trucking company this driver worked for

owns 160 vehicles, and has been involved in 23 crashes since 2004. :-(

[reyd reid reed]

4. That's absolutely horrendous...

I hate having to pass accidents like that. I can't get them out of my head for the longest time.

Truly tragic.

:(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. Apparently the man who was killed was helping a friend

get his car to a shop. He was going to give him a ride home after he dropped his car off. So sad...

[reyd reid reed]

9. Horrible.

Things like this really bring home just how short life really is. When we get up in the morning, we should always take a minute to tell the people that we love how we feel about them and most of us don't...we take it for granted that there'll be 'later'. We put things off for 'later'. We decide that we'll deal with things 'later'.

Sometimes there isn't a 'later'.

Go tell someone that you love them.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. I keep telling my bro...

money isn't worth dying for.

[Nicole]

7. How awful!

Sorry you had to witness that. :(

I hope your brother listens to you.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. I hope so too...

Maybe the pic will help.

[sammythecat]

8. Obviously I feel for the victims

and their families. That is just a given, and this is truly a horrible sight.

But whenever I see things like this I can't help but feel for truck driver. If he's at all a decent human being I'm sure he wishes he were dead. He'll have this horror with him for the rest of his life.

And in no way am I minimizing the even greater horror of the victims. This is just tragic.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. I feel for him as well...

even though he's suspected of doctoring his logbook. He's probably a guy just like my bro; who really needs the money, and just doesn't get paid enough to do his job...particularly with fuel prices going through the roof again. But it's just not safe...
I hope he spends the rest of his life reminding other truckers that they need to be rested.

[BikeWriter]

12. Whew! I was a fireman for five years...

...and that is a bad wreck!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. I only saw one that was similar...

When I was a kid, we were on the Beltway when a dump truck slammed into a VW Bug, squashing it flat. My dad pulled over and ran back to see if he could help anyone; but the driver of the VW was already dead...

[BikeWriter]

17. The first two victims I tried to help were teens...

One I'd known from my Mom's Church from his birth. The war had prepared me for it, though.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. It must have been a tough job...

prepared or not. :hug:

[BikeWriter]

20. Thank you, Dear. When I couldn't find a pulse, I...

put my ear to his chest, hoping for a faint beat. I found nothing, but gave the two of them CPR the best I could until a Medical Examiner arrived twenty minutes later. It did mess with my head but that was rather hopeless already.

[Maddy McCall]

28. I didn't know that!

I'm a first responder with our FD--it's my second job.

The only comparable wreck I've seen happened a year ago (March 22, 06)...it involved a semi pulling a log trailer, a Waste Management garbage truck, and a small car.

The guy who was riding on the back of the garbage truck was killed by the flying logs...the log truck had been driving too fast...tried to pass the car, and rear-ended the garbage truck. That was the first wreck I worked where we had to bring in heavy equipment to clean up. Huge pine logs were in the highway--looked like pick-up sticks.

Last week we worked a wreck during spring break here...a 12 YO kid stole his grandmother's car, was driving fast, hit a culvert, went airborne, before a light pole stopped him. When I saw him pinned in the vehicle, I thought there was no hope for him...one of our other first responders had to see to him--I couldn't, because I've got a 13 YO boy. The impact with the culvert knocked his teeth out (obvious massive head trauma) and broke his arms and a leg. Last I heard, he had been airlifted to NOLA, where he's not doing so good. That wreck got to me more than anything I've seen in the past five years. :(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. Oh Maddy...

It just sounds horrible. I can understand how it would get to you, since your son is about the same age. I hope he pulls through...
:hug:

[SeattleGirl]

14. Holy crap! That's awful.

I think I'd be sending that article to my brother, if he were a driver.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. I just sent it a few minutes ago...

I hope he reads it and takes my message to heart.

[bridgit]

19. Good Grief, GOG!!

:wow:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. That was my reaction, too...

when I saw the pic in the paper.

I glanced over as I drove by; but I don't like to rubberneck, so I really couldn't tell how bad things were until I saw the article in the paper.

[The Traveler]

21. Typical night on the Beltway?????

Glad yer OK, Goddess.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

34. I'm glad I decided to go to the store after rehearsal...

If I hadn't, I might have been driving on the other side when it happened; and I'm not sure I could have handled that.

[hickman]

22. I'll bet there is a lot more to this story.

Truck drivers don't routinely back end other drivers. I'd bet my life that the Honda cut him off and slammed on his brakes. He's the one that should be prosecuted. Driving on exways in Michigan I see it all the time. A bozo in a Saturn/F150/SUV, on his phone, cuts in and slams on the brakes, and cuts back into the left lane. Meanwhile the truck driver he cut off is fucked. I knew a truck driver in the 80's. They all have to keep 2 logs if they're supporting a family.

[CC]

23. I wondered about that but

then read the article. That truck driver should not of been on the road at all. snip...was driving a tractor-trailer on a suspended license... Just like there are bad drivers in cars so to are there bad drivers in trucks. This looks like one of them. I hope the company is fined heavily (and the family gets a good lawyer) for letting an unlicensed driver operate one of their trucks. There is no excuse for him being behind the wheel.

[av8rdave]

27. I've had truckers tailgate me when they had room to pass...

They used to be the best out there. Anymore, there are some that are just plain deadly!

In my business, our flying hours are routinely looked over by the FAA. If I exceed max duty day or max flight hours in a given period (there are limits for 1 day, 7 days, 30 days and 1 year) I'm subject to fine/certificate action (= suspension/revocation). A shame the same doesn't apply to truckers.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

35. Truck drivers routinely tailgate around here, I'm sorry to say.

It wasn't always like that. I think it's due to the generally rude way many people around here drive. It's like everybody just gets caught up in the vibe, and drives like a maniac. :(

[fortyfeetunder]

24. OMG. Both loops closed.

Glad you got home OK. I can't imagine sitting on the Beltway that long. Did you end up taking back roads home?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

37. Unfortunately, I came upon the accident right after the first responders...

My side had been moving fine; but they had to land helicopters, so they shut it down for about an hour. I just turned off the engine and played with my cellphone.

I don't know how the poor folks on the other side fared.

[gbate]

25. That's terrible. :(

[kwassa]

26. Last night a semi hit a firetruck on the Beltway, shutting it down.

Near the Wilson bridge, I think, but we were on the far side, zipping up 270 when we saw the announcement on those overhead emergency signs. Hear about the accident on the radio this morning.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

39. Oh no!

Was the firetruck on call?

I hope nobody was injured...

[Maddy McCall]

29. I'm glad you weren't a few minutes ahead in traffic.

Drivers do drive ridiculous hours, often under ridiculous time limitations. The law says one thing, but employers say another.

:hug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

40. Me too...

I would have been a mess if I saw it happen.

[BarenakedLady]

30. Egads!

How scary :scared:

Glad you are ok.

[seemunkee]

31. Saw that on the news the other night

I grew up with the Beltway in my backyard near Georgia Ave. We always knew there was a bad accident because the neighborhood got quiet.
A lot of trucks in the Beltway drive way to fast for how much room there is between vehicles. My wife who has lived in this area all her life refuses to drive on the Beltway.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

41. I don't blame her...

I avoid it at all costs during rush hour; and prefer not to take it at all if possible.

[skygazer]

36. Oh my god

Things like this just give me the creeps - my SO is on the road 2 - 3 hours a day and it's things like this that worry me. He's an excellent driver - it's everyone else who makes me nervous.

I hope your brother takes this to heart. It's no joke - if he ever hit someone and had to live with that for the rest of his life, it would be horrible.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

42. 3 hours is a long commute...

I hope he can find pleasant alternative routes that keep him out of too much traffic. :hi:

[ThomCat]

38. I'm very glad that you weren't directly involved.

:(

I've come back several times to look at that picture. That's just so terrible for everyone involved. :cry:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

43. Thanks ThomCat...

I'm glad I didn't witness the crash. It really is tragic. :hug:

[Oeditpus Rex]

44. Sometimes I think everyone should see something like this

It changes your perspective.

Five or six years ago, a reporter and I rolled on a double-fatal accident (our regular photographer was elsewhere). We got there quickly enough that both bodies were still in the cars. It was my first fatal where the bodies hadn't been removed, and it almost made me physically ill.

I've been a more cautious driver ever since.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

45. Highways scare me - I'm glad you're ok

:hug:

[guitar man]

46. My God, what a tragic scene

I travel the highways a lot and see too much of this stuff :cry:

My Dad was a trucker for over 40 years, most of it as a Teamster driver. He loved the pay and benefits, no doubt, but always cited his main reason for preferring union jobs because they ran "strictly legal" and couldn't force the drivers to doctor logs and run too many hours.

It's something to think about when these things happen.

[mainegreen]

47. That's why I take the slow route home as opposed to the pike.

Those five minutes aren't worth it, especially as my commute is on the most accident prone stretch of pike.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

48. I find the slow route is better for my psyche.

One of my gigs regularly begins rehearsing at the tail end of the morning rush hour.

I've found that I have to add half an hour to the time it usually takes to get there via the Beltway in order to insure that an accident won't make me late. So it makes as much sense for me to drive through parks, where I can keep moving, because traffic is light.

I always arrive relaxed, having had a pleasant drive. :-)