My snooze button saved my life!!!
This morning I sat in the Petro in Joplin Misouri, accrost the street from KTL's yard. When my alarm went off I reached down and set the snooze for 10 more minutes. Then I finally got up and used the facilities, caught up my log, and was on my way. I left Joplin on I 44 W. I took Exit 1 and proceded on HWY 166 into Kansas. I followed 166 to where It intersected SR 99N. Just as I crested a hill about 2 miles north of Howard Kansas this is what filled my field of view.
I immediatly stopped the truck and sent in a qualcom that dated 04:41 PST. I then got out of the truck, grabbed my first aid kit and proceded to the other side of the trailer, this is what I found.
Allthough the driver was not wearing his seat belt, fortunately he was able to get out with out a scratch. While waiting on local law enforcement to arive I started talking with the driver. What happened was that as he hit a bump in the road, his front right tire sliped out over the white line and sucked into the ditch. The ditch on each side of the road was 3 1/2 - 4 feet deep. The driver pulled the wheel hard and got the steer tire to come back on the road. However the shifting of the trailer weight caused the trailer to rock hard and shake the steer tires loose of thier grip on the pavement, the truck then jackknifed, the trailer broke free of the truck as the king pin moutning was ripped from the frame, the truck went onto its side as well as the trailer. The driver was an Owner Operator, owning the truck, trailer and company. He had been trucking since 1977 and was completly sober, he had just left his house near Wichita just over an hour before the accident. He had only been doing this local haul for 3 weeks, before that he had been running over the road. His estimated tally of his experience was close to 4,000,000 miles over the road. In this truck alone he has 788,000.
This was the first accident he had ever had.
The road did have somthing to do with the accident however, on this exact same spot on the road in the past year the patrol man told me that they had had numerous accidents just like this one. The bump in the road due to its shape causes a vehicles wheels to push towards the ditch when you hit it. As well there was a cross on the other side of the road that had some unlucky persons name etched into it, as well as a date of April 8th 2001.
I guess the lesson to be learned here is that no matter how many miles you have under your belt, it only takes a second to ruin your day. The part that scares me the most is that the Highway Patrol figured the time of the accident at 6:31 Central time. This means that had I not hit my snooze button I would have been right there at that exact moment to have a head on collision with this truck as it spiraled out of controll. That was a very sobering moment for myself. I know one thing for sure, I am going to be keeping my head on no matter what I do so this doesnt have to be me.
This morning I sat in the Petro in Joplin Misouri, accrost the street from KTL's yard. When my alarm went off I reached down and set the snooze for 10 more minutes. Then I finally got up and used the facilities, caught up my log, and was on my way. I left Joplin on I 44 W. I took Exit 1 and proceded on HWY 166 into Kansas. I followed 166 to where It intersected SR 99N. Just as I crested a hill about 2 miles north of Howard Kansas this is what filled my field of view.
I immediatly stopped the truck and sent in a qualcom that dated 04:41 PST. I then got out of the truck, grabbed my first aid kit and proceded to the other side of the trailer, this is what I found.
Allthough the driver was not wearing his seat belt, fortunately he was able to get out with out a scratch. While waiting on local law enforcement to arive I started talking with the driver. What happened was that as he hit a bump in the road, his front right tire sliped out over the white line and sucked into the ditch. The ditch on each side of the road was 3 1/2 - 4 feet deep. The driver pulled the wheel hard and got the steer tire to come back on the road. However the shifting of the trailer weight caused the trailer to rock hard and shake the steer tires loose of thier grip on the pavement, the truck then jackknifed, the trailer broke free of the truck as the king pin moutning was ripped from the frame, the truck went onto its side as well as the trailer. The driver was an Owner Operator, owning the truck, trailer and company. He had been trucking since 1977 and was completly sober, he had just left his house near Wichita just over an hour before the accident. He had only been doing this local haul for 3 weeks, before that he had been running over the road. His estimated tally of his experience was close to 4,000,000 miles over the road. In this truck alone he has 788,000.
This was the first accident he had ever had.
The road did have somthing to do with the accident however, on this exact same spot on the road in the past year the patrol man told me that they had had numerous accidents just like this one. The bump in the road due to its shape causes a vehicles wheels to push towards the ditch when you hit it. As well there was a cross on the other side of the road that had some unlucky persons name etched into it, as well as a date of April 8th 2001.
I guess the lesson to be learned here is that no matter how many miles you have under your belt, it only takes a second to ruin your day. The part that scares me the most is that the Highway Patrol figured the time of the accident at 6:31 Central time. This means that had I not hit my snooze button I would have been right there at that exact moment to have a head on collision with this truck as it spiraled out of controll. That was a very sobering moment for myself. I know one thing for sure, I am going to be keeping my head on no matter what I do so this doesnt have to be me.
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I told you I was afraid of interstates!
This was obviously a very humbling moment for you. Please take your time and always keep both eyes peeled.
Keep in touch okay?
Cherries