Bad Wreck

Bad wreck on I-44 at Rolla, MO. Still snowing here and the weather guessers are saying its going to snow all night. Be careful out there.

Ooh my,, it would be a nightmare to be caught up in some thing like that...

Considering the caliber of today's steering wheel holder, I'm not surprised one bit. My large car is parked permanently because of the stupidity.
We rarely had wrecks like this before the world of academia took over and handed out cdl's from pez dispensers.

(quoted from post at 18:56:36 02/28/15) Bad wreck on I-44 at Rolla, MO. Still snowing here and the weather guessers are saying its going to snow all night. Be careful out there.

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I don't see any reason for a wreck. Visibility is several hundred feet and the snow is less than an inch deep.

Looks like a nasty deal. I'm guessing not everyone walked away from that one.

I am a CDL carrier/driver and will still say that truck drivers are some of the most dangerous people on our roads. Many of them pay as much attention to where they are going and surroundings as the average teenage girl does behind the wheel. I see way too many close calls on the roadways with trucks to blame. I think the average CDL holder has no idea how much damage can be done and lives killed by his/her personal go-cart that weighs 80,000 lbs. I rarely see it from over size loads or RGNs thank goodness. It is usually a van trailer and sometimes even a flat trailer or step deck driver. I spend most of my miles (several each year) traveling in a pickup truck and get to see a large number of close calls with a semi and have even been involved in a few myself. More often than not the passenger vehicle is not at fault.

Its a real problem. I'm not sure how to fix it.

YIKES !!!!

My oldest son got caught behind that on his way to Bennett Springs for opening day of trout fishing. Took 3 hours to get around, on the outer service road. Bet it's going to be a little cool in the chest waders at daylight!

Visibility has nothing to do with it
Snow on the road does there could be icy conditions underneath....someone starts hydroplaning on worn out tires or whatever the cause and starts a chain reaction..I've been through rolla quite a few times and its a busy interstate

You are very wrong here, and insulting. The stats from recent studies of dash cam videos is prooving that in over 90% of truck/car crashes the car is at fault. Also the accident rates for large trucks has been falling steadily since the 80's and is now less than half the rate per mile traveled than it was just back in the 80's. Right now trucks drive anually about twice as many miles every year as they did in the 80's and yet we have roughly the same number of deaths/year and many fewer injuries and fewer non-injury accidents. They even discounted the last 2 years of the study because for those years the fatality rate had dropped to half the previous year, so they threw those years out of the study figuring they were an anomally that wouldn't repeat. And don't forget to take into account that we are also sharing the roads with twice as many cars, and everyone is traveling faster too. Cars frequently going at speeds over 80mph.

It's also very hilly and curvy there, that's no excuse for poor driving, but that stretch of road is tough on a good day

Looks like its at the hwy 63 interchange. Been there quite a few times. Its a curve on a hill, and the speed limit is 70 on that streck of 44. Pretty scary.

Giong 70 mph on windy hilly slippery roads with a lot of traffic doesn't leave much time to slow down and avoid a wreck in front of you, I can see how things got balled up in a hurry!

Doesn't look like a good day for Xtra leasing either!!

Speed too fast for conditions.

jon f mn I have to go along with you. In the 38 years I ran freight I saw more cars cause accidents than trucks. I have seen cars cause a number truck accidents. That's not saying I haven't seen a few bad truck drivers to. I count my blessing that in 38 years I drove I was never in a major accident or never jack knifed a rig and we hauled hospital supplies and ran when roads were closed to a state of emergency.

Actually Glenn this was at the Martin Springs Drive exit. This is on the down hill side. Word is now a Greyhound bus rear ended a truck which started it all.

Tomorrow is opening day of trout season. I can't believe anybody is going! lol

No one was killed. This article says a truck rear ended the Greyhound bus.
Pile up on I 44

Not meant to be insulting to anyone who does work hard at being safe as a driver. I realize that you are a full-time driver. My comments come as honest observation from someone who spends a great deal of time on the road in either a pickup or a semi. I know you have seen the trucks that can clearly see the car in his mirror but is too lazy to take a good look before cutting the trailer over on top of them. There's no excuse. You've also the seen the driver that is continually wandering from part way in the left lane all the way to the rumble strip then give it a yank to get it back in the lane. These usually arent one time offenders. It often goes on for miles. You finally zoom by them so see that they are playing with a laptop or a phone in their lap. This is not a rare occurrence. Not cool! As CDL carriers we have a responsibility to make the extra effort to be on the straight and narrow. Not only are we commercial carriers with huge liabilities for our company but at the end of the day lives are at stake. There is a huge difference between a bad driver in a toyota Carolla and a truck grossing 70-80,000 lbs. If you carry the big weapon then you have big responsibility.

Neither I nor the guys that work with me hesitate to call the number on the back of the trailer if the driver is a multiple offender. Everyone I work with is a Commercial driver and fully understand the situation. I hope someone would call my company number to report me if I was so selfish that I couldnt pull over to take care of my electronic gadgets.

Passenger cars are just that.. Passenger cars. Most dont drive a truck or understand anything about limited stopping power, being top heavy and long. You have to take that into consideration before you start the day and make reactions accordingly. People are going to cut you off and pull out in front of you. They are going to pull up way past the white line at the traffic signal so you cant make your left turn. It just comes with the territory. You just have to be patient, calm and slow. That's the part that the "go-cart" drivers are missing.

This is personal with me because it has nearly cost a group of us our lives more than one time. More often than not, it was either a semi or someone pulling a bumper pull travel trailer to blame. We work for a company that preaches safety from morning to night about things that are of no consequence. My cohorts and I have told them multiple times that if we get hurt on the job it will be from a motor vehicle crash, not working on the tractor or combine.

Looking at the picture above it's easy to see that the drivers were using far too much speed and not nearly enough following distance. Reasonable speeds dont cause pileups of that magnitude. I dont think you could disagree.

That and no one talks on the CB anymore. I drive for a living and I have come up on backups and not one truck I met beforehand said anything about it. Just isn't like it was back in the 80s.

Please also note that the report on particular accident says that a semi rearended a bus which triggered the remainder of the pileup. Too much speed or not paying attention. Likely a combination thereof. I'm sure that you realize that both drivers are CDL holders. No denying that others are guilty but the CDL drivers had a greater responsibility.

I put over 3 million miles driving semi over the road...williamayb has it spot on. Lot of big truck drivers don't have a clue what is going on...driving too fast for conditions and not knowing how long it takes to stop under all conditions.

Apparently you didn't read what I wrote, your generalizations are all wrong. Truckers in general, and trucking as a whole are much better now than at any time in trucking history as far as accidents and safety goes. All companies are required to provide continuing education and safety training and to make sure that all drivers attend. With the new CSA rules especially, bad drivers are being cleaned out very quickly because shippers look at CSA scores and deny loads to companies with high scores. You say that you observe more bad drivers than good, which is a totally false statement. There certainly are bad drivers out there, but to say that most drivers are bad, or that drivers in general are worse than they used to be is a false statement. To say that you see as much of what you claim to see of bad driving by truckers is a gross exaggeration. I'm sure you've seen what you say, but it's a very tiny portion of the over all, not an industry wide issue. I do consider it an insult because you insinuated that my industry is full of people that are so dumb and uncaring that we run up and down the road wantonly killing poor defenseless car drivers because we just don't care. What a foolish thing to insinuate, and it's not backed up by any facts or research.

B&D, have you ever seen an accident happen on a straight stretch of four land on a clear day? Visibility does not always play a part. It's whether drivers are paying attention or not. When conditions are bad, people should slow down, and most states require this, but few pay attention to it. An inch of snow is likely more dangerous than a foot or more, because no one thinks an inch or two is dangerous.

That is why I made my run into town early today because I knew the snow was going to cause problems. Stores where packed and the road even at 10AM where getting slick

Here is the truth about it.




the no BS truth

Jon, you are probably wasting your time. I agree with you after 20 years of hauling freight in 18-wheelers.
In this case, I will quote my father:
Never wrestle with a pig in the mud. You can't really win and the pig is having the time of his life.

Ok, now that made me feel better. Lol. I'll go to sleep now!

Jon, that chart is interesting, but how much of the reduction in fatalities, especially in the cars, is a result of safety advances over the years? Given the advances like seat/shoulder belts, airbag, crumple zones , etc. people walk away from wrecks today that would have been fatal in 1975.

While I don't think that the majority of CDL Large Truck drivers are a menace, from my experience there does seem to be a larger percentage of 'bad' drivers now as opposed to 15-20 years ago.

While I'm not a CDL/Large Truck driver, I have spent a LOT of time behind the wheel of 30'+ motorhomes over the years.

It used to be that when you were behind or along side an 18 wheeler, overtaking, or being overtaken you pretty well knew what he was going to do and felt safe around them. Now a days that just isn't so. While they aren't as bad as the bozos in the 4 wheelers I find that I'm not as comfortable around the 18 wheelers as I used to be.

looks like more then a bumper and graphic's like jons wreck

I can't find it now, but I read something once, and
I don't remember who wrote it, but it said that in
most fatalities of car drivers and trucks seatbelts
and airbags would not have made much difference.
That was mostly due to being literally run over by
the truck. That's why it bugs me so much when cars
pace me beside my truck or pass and cut in front and
don't go on. If they get under there for any reason
it won't matter who's fault it was, they will be
dead, and likely in an ugly way. There is no excuse
to be beside or in front of a truck, unless you just
want to be dead.

What speed was the greyhound travelling and what was the rest of traffic doing?
Busses and rv's (and Yourga flatbed drivers) are the worst to have to be on the road with.
I think it was Arkansas that pulled in and DOT'd tour busses one day. Over 70 percent failed with out of service equipment violations. The feds told them They were never to do that again.

Unless you look at that one federal study. It said that if a car ran a red light and hit you, it's your fault, because you decided to go when your light turned green.

I am not trying to be insulting Jon but I have seen some very careless driving by some big rigs. Interstate 81 between Syracuse and the Canadian border has some of the worst semi drivers I have ever seen. Most of those rigs are heading home to Montreal and they seem to be hell bent to get there quickly and act as if they are driving a sports car, often cutting in and out of traffic at very high speeds. They seem to be involved in every major accident that occurs there.

I ran a rock bucket for a couple of years when retired just because I wanted to. One day an outside tire on the trailer blew. I guarantee you, if any little 4 wheeler was adjacent to me when that happened, he/she would have had to clean up the driver's seat and pants.

Mark

Had that been down south you guy's would be hammering us with your superior winter driving skills. You should be better at it since you get a lot more practice.

Just looking at the pic my guess is drivers are the same there as here. Snow starts and everyone speeds up trying to get home before it gets bad instead of using sense that isn't common anymore and slowing down and giving each other more room. Truckers are just as bad trying to outrun the weather and not caring who gets killed in the process. (Bigger, badder, and more responsibility in my book!) I 40 is a nightmare here with trucks hammer down trying to get over the mountain before it shuts down and idiots in cars headed home.

Mabie it's just my old age but I think there's a lot more unsafe drivers all the way around now a day's. Truckers used to show the most sense and slow things down when they felt they needed to. That doesn't happen anymore.

I don't mean to be any more insulting than you, and I don't doubt that you've seen the things you say. And of course trucks are involved in the crashes, that is one of the heaviest traveled roads in the country and nearly bumper to bumper trucks. But your giving the blame to the wrong party. Anyone who's driven in the north east knows that it's common practice for cars to excellerate into the opening to block the truckers lane change. This is what has caused the situation where truckers are forced to make aggressive lane changes amd not signal til the move has started. I know that what you say you saw is the truth, but I also know that you've seen dozens or even hundreds of cars do what I described for every truck do what you say. Don't blame a situation created by your peer group on the folks only reacting to it.

Forgot about Canadian drivers. Especially Quebecois. I've seen them run off into the median to scare cars that were screwing with trucks and they don't seem to be able to make the connection between a speed limit sign and a speedometer.

Around here trucking companies are hard up to find new drivers with CLEAN records that will pass with the insurance company.

Speaking of car drivers, my son almost had a wreck last week with his empty feed truck when the driver of a car he was meeting fell asleep and came over the center line at him. Son said the car driver was sitting there with his head way back when he came at him. He went for the shoulder and started jackknifing but he recovered. He said for a split moment he was looking across at the ditch on the other side and thought he was going to end up there. When the other drivers at the mill heard about it and saw the skid marks on the highway they asked him how he did that! The car didn't hit him and he never saw it again. He said when he got to the mill he had to use the restroom and it took him awhile to get his nerves back under control.

I'll bet not a one of them slowed down because of weather till they hit!!

(quoted from post at 00:49:20 03/01/15) B&D, have you ever seen an accident happen on a straight stretch of four land on a clear day? Visibility does not always play a part. It's whether drivers are paying attention or not. When conditions are bad, people should slow down, and most states require this, but few pay attention to it. An inch of snow is likely more dangerous than a foot or more, because no one thinks an inch or two is dangerous.

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No idea what point you are trying to make. After dark, during rain storms and snow storms the accident rate per mile increases.

Drop in passenger car deaths parallels the improved crash protection standards for passenger vehicles.