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Watch Slidell motorcyclist survive horrific crash with 18-wheeler
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune ^ | 8/11/15 | James Varney, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Posted on 08/11/2015 1:44:02 PM PDT by BBell

A man crushed and dragged on his motorcycle by an 18-wheeler in Slidell has survived. The incident, captured in a terrifying video, leads "one to believe that miracles really do exist," the Slidell Police Department declared.

The crash occurred last Friday (Aug. 7) around 7 p.m. At the intersection of Gause Boulevard West and Carnation Street a motorcyclist had come to a stop and was surveying traffic, video provided by the Police Department shows.

As he is there idling on his bike, an 18-wheeler makes a right turn and plows right into him. The 2005 Freightliner careens down Carnation Street, pushing the crumpled rider and bike, and then veers to its right into a wet ditch.

Police acknowledged they feared the worst when they arrived at the scene. The rider, a 50-year-old Slidell man who police did not identify, was on the side of the road near a downed power line and the ditched truck with the wrecked motorcycle pinned beneath it.

But the rider was alive. In critical condition, he was taken to University Hospital in New Orleans, police said.

The truck driver, Timothy Duimstra, 56, of Michigan, was also in poor shape, police said. But his condition wasn't the result of the accident but the cause, according to police. Duimstra's speech was slurred and he could not keep his balance, police said.

(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...


TOPICS: Local News; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: 18wheeler; miracles; slidell
Does anyone know if there are any extra penalties for driving a big rig drunk?
1 posted on 08/11/2015 1:44:03 PM PDT by BBell
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To: BBell

Yes, automatic license suspension when charged. Minimum 1 year suspension on conviction. He will also be looking for a new career. His info will go into the national drivers data base that all companies report to and show a dui in a commercial vehicle. He will never drive another truck for anyone. He is now a permanently unemployed truck driver....red


2 posted on 08/11/2015 2:01:06 PM PDT by rednek ("Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.")
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To: BBell

I’m amazed he made the turn so sharply.


3 posted on 08/11/2015 2:07:03 PM PDT by kinsman redeemer (The real enemy seeks to devour what is good.)
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To: rednek

Yup.

Nobody could him if they wanted to. Insurance would never touch him. CDLs are serious business. You can’t screw around.


4 posted on 08/11/2015 2:16:02 PM PDT by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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To: Bogey78O

There are more and more accidents where people are claiming sneezing spells, and surprised by another vehicle. I am surprised prosecutors in vehicular deaths are not getting the driver’s social media hours of communications. I am suspecting there are a lot of tired people out there who are on the social media quite late and then falling asleep the next day. Just my thoughts here.


5 posted on 08/11/2015 2:25:53 PM PDT by healy61
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To: BBell

Note, too, that ‘drunk’ with a CDL is often a much lower standard than fro the average car driver. IIRC, a BAC of 0.04 is the threshold for CDL drivers, where for car drivers it is 0.08 and up until a couple of years ago was 0.10%


6 posted on 08/11/2015 2:33:51 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: BBell

Bump for reference.


7 posted on 08/11/2015 3:00:40 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: BBell
The truck driver is screwed. Correction: former truck driver. He'll never, ever, drive anything other than a 4 wheeler in the future. His company is going to pay biiiiig bucks for this cluster.
8 posted on 08/11/2015 3:44:00 PM PDT by Thumper1960 (A modern so-called "Conservative" is a shadow of a wisp of a vertebrate human being.)
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9 posted on 08/11/2015 5:00:59 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< | :)~)
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To: BBell; martin_fierro
The only statement Duimstra allegedly made to police was, "I messed up."

Idiot².

10 posted on 08/11/2015 5:56:39 PM PDT by Semper Mark (Vlad Tepes was a piker.)
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To: martin_fierro

I consider myself a fairly paranoid rider. I am constantly in threat assessment mode when I ride.

I can’t say I would have been able to get out of THAT situation myself, presented in an instant as it was. That one would have got me.

Yet another scenario to have to seriously consider at all times . . .


11 posted on 08/11/2015 7:06:41 PM PDT by BraveMan
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To: kinsman redeemer

I’m amazed he made the turn so sharply.

...

According to the article, the police think he passed out and the truck veered off the road sharply.


12 posted on 08/11/2015 7:15:35 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: Moonman62

I’m having trouble seeing how that could happen. The steering wheel must have spun (or been spun) rapidly to lock to the right. Max right.

If the driver didn’t do it, and I’m thinking he could not have turned it so quickly, then could something in/near the road have grabbed the wheel and cranked the steering to max right? A curb or ditch, for example.

I was surprised that the truck didn’t roll over!

And finally, do I have to READ the article?? I HATE that!

LOL


13 posted on 08/11/2015 7:31:21 PM PDT by kinsman redeemer (The real enemy seeks to devour what is good.)
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To: kinsman redeemer

If the driver didn’t do it, and I’m thinking he could not have turned it so quickly, then could something in/near the road have grabbed the wheel and cranked the steering to max right? A curb or ditch, for example.

...

That’s what I thought. Perhaps the wheels caught the ditch he ultimately ended up in.


14 posted on 08/11/2015 7:37:46 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: BBell

drunk

or having a stroke.


15 posted on 08/11/2015 7:39:54 PM PDT by Chickensoup (We lose our freedoms one surrender at a time)
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