I do not see how it is his fault in the least. The Highway Commission has blocked and ruined highway travel by the constant, slow, inconvenient “construction”. What the hell did they think was going to happen? Those eighteen wheelers cannot stop on a dime. They should be confined to their own lane. Or banned completely. But this driver did nothing wrong.
So by banning trucks, just how do you propose getting everything you own, eat and use? I’ll wait.
Yeah, hard to say if you weren’t there. Sounds like a political prosecution though.
In Hillary’s Marxist village, every accident is a crime.
Without having been there and seen it, in the 3D rendering this sounds like "an accident" not vehicular homicide.
They probably had signs up for miles about construction with no construction, traffic was going along as it normally does at normal speeds, you come over a hill (after a mile or two of telling you there is construction going on) and boom...traffic is backed up.
The guy in front of you can stop, but you are driving an 18 wheeler and you hit the car in front of you, and the chain reaction begins.
I thought for sure there would be some kind of tailgating, road rage, completely faulty vehicle, poor maintenance, whatever.
But no. It is about the fact that trucking companies are only liable for up to a million dollars total, and that some kind of technology wasn't installed on the truck (not mandatory to be installed...it ISN'T against the law to NOT have it installed)
An attorney representing Butler’s estate told The Star that the families of the five victims agreed to settle with the company and its insurer rather than sue.
That attorney, Chad Beckett of Urbana, Ilinois, said he would be violating a confidentiality agreement if he disclosed the terms of the settlement, but characterized it this way:
“I’ll just say everybody left unhappy,” he said.
Beckett said he hasn’t handled many truck wreck cases and was surprised to learned how little liability insurance trucking companies are required to carry given the potential damage that a truck wreck can cause. Federal records show that Indian Creek Express’ insurance policy then and now pays no more than $1 million per occurrence, no matter how many vehicles are involved.
The minimum liability coverage required under federal law is $750,000 for all but haulers of hazardous material. Despite inflation, that hasn’t changed in 35 years.
“That’s what this case has shown me,” Beckett said. “The coverage is not close to adequate to compensate the families.”
When I was sixteen and my brother was seventeen, he was driving me into Fairfax, VA on the Beltway back in the early Seventies. We were doing about 70 MPH (which was the speed limit back then) and came over a crest in the highway and traffic was completely backed up. We were just barely able to stop, but a car plowed into our station wagon at about 60 MPH which put the engine of his car where his stick shift had previously been. It ended up being a five car collision, and the guy who hit us had his face split open and was walking across traffic that was still whizzing by as his face was covered with blood. My brother and I were both miraculously unharmed saw this, my brother grabbed the guy, stopped a car, and my brother simply opened the door, put the guy in the car and told the guy to drive him to a hospital! (how things have changed, just reading that) I felt undamaged, but had smashed my head and face against the windscreen of the car when we were hit. I often wonder if I had been concussed and simply didn't know it.
Then the weirdest thing happened. Out of the blue, my dad appeared right there asking what was going on! It was like viewing an apparition, and though I was speechless, wondering where he had come from, my brother blurted out "That guy f***ing guy just ran into the back of us!" I had my mouth open, it was the first time my brother had ever said the F-Word to my dad! (I don't even think my dad registered it)
It turns out my dad, who was the XO on the Navy base we were living on, was moonlighting on Saturdays, Sundays, and weeknights at a big department chain in Washington DC called "GEM", and was on his way home in the other direction when he saw our family car there and came over. THAT was unexpected, to say the least.
Turned out the back end of our station wagon (a brand new 1972 Chevrolet Greenbriar) had the tailgate and bumper completely caved in and it buckled the gas tank underneath, but after the State Police inspected it, they said it was intact and thought the car might still be drivable! (again, at the speed the car hit us, it was amazing enough neither of us were hurt, but there was only that level of damage, especially considering the state of the car that hit us, completely demolished back to the driver's seat)
They would NEVER have let us drive that car today. I am certain it would have been towed today. But the State Police asked if we wanted to give it a try.
Honestly, this is still one of the most memorable things in my life. This accident happened at rush hour on a normally jammed highway leading into one of the busiest cities in the country. It was now dark as my brother and I got into the car to try it out. The entire 5 lane highway had probably been closed completely for at least a half hour. That five lane highway was dark and empty in front of us as we slowly drove away. I turned to look back, and as far as I could see, back into the distance, snaking back up and over one hill, then another to the visible horizon, were five lanes chock full of blazing car headlights, all backed up. That was quite a sight.
Point is, it was an accident. We never blamed the guy who hit us. He couldn't stop. We just knew that. Thing is, this prosecution of this truck driver for vehicular homicide seems wrong to me. I admit I don't know the entire story, but it seems wrong.