Driver in Bay Area highway collapse had history of arrests

AP wire on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 4/30/07 | Marcus Wohlsen - ap

[Revolting cat!]

Prolly a Communist or Rudy Giuliani voter too!

[clintonh8r]

More likely a RAT teamster.....

[GovernmentShrinker]

I think the issue is that we’d have a whole lot less access to background info on Mexican drivers.

[Anti-Bubba182]

".."We can't get steel like we used to," Weiss said..."

Damn! Didn't we used to make that in the United States?

[NormsRevenge]

ssshhhhhh, we still have an infestation or two of good steel mills here and we sell most of that abroad, I think..

[GovernmentShrinker]

I don’t understand why this sort of truck (i.e. designed to carry thousands of gallons of hazardous material) isn’t required by law to be equipped with a mechanism that prevents it from exceeding 55 or 60 mph. Most accidents involving fuel tanker trucks seem to happen at high speeds on highways. This guy is said to have been “speeding” in a 50 mph zone — with a built-in speed limiter, he wouldn’t have been able to speed by very much over the 50 mph limit.

[Minutemen]

Mosque/ Queda? hmmmmmmmm

[ChildOfThe60s]

The US steel industry shares the blame for its own demise.

[bannie]

"It's reprehensible," said Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, who chairs both the Assembly Transportation Committee and the Joint Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security. "Someone with that record has no business driving hazardous materials on our highways."

Hypocrite.

[supercat]

Hey Pedro. Everyone that can drive is transporting the same hazardous material

Yeah, and anyone can get his hands on some restricted radiological materials by plunking down $10 for a smoke detector.

The amount of gasoline this guy was carrying was more than 2.5 orders of magnitude larger than what a typical car carries. That's a pretty huge difference.

[Minutemen]

"We can't get steel like we used to," Weiss said..."
We can't produce much of anything anymore- pathetic. ("virtual steel"?)

[Former Dodger]

Will the DUmmie conspiracy freaks and Rosie O start claiming that "...a fire alone couldn't have destroyed that roadway...it must have been explosive devices planted there to make it collapse...just like on 9/11!"?

[supercat]

I don’t understand why this sort of truck (i.e. designed to carry thousands of gallons of hazardous material) isn’t required by law to be equipped with a mechanism that prevents it from exceeding 55 or 60 mph.

As has been noted, much of the blame lies (but will never be placed) on politicians who set artificially-low speed limits in so many places that speed limits are widely ignored even in those cases where they are necessary.

That having been said, a driver's logs should indicate whether he has a habit of speeding. No need for speed-restricting devices.

[TaMoDee]

You are pretty close. He has an Arabic name. I believe that very roughly translated his name means “place of the base”.
ie: His family a long time ago lived near a military base or
fort. Maybe!

With that anglo first name my bet is that he is a Christian Lebanonee.

[TaMoDee]

See Post #34

[dr_lew]

Nothing about his past has anything to do with an accident for crying out loud.

What do you think caused the accident? I can think of only one thing: speeding. Let's just say hypothetically he was doing, oh, 80, when he decided he'd better slow down a little because it's getting a little hairy through "the maze", but he waggles a little, clips a pillar, and crashes.

Wouldn't such behavior be an echo of his former irresponsible self?

[kittycatonline.com]

There is also nothing that prevents a convicted felon who has served his sentence from getting his commercial truck driver's license in California - so long as he has a clear driving record, CHP Chief Steve Vaughn said.

So is he insinuating that convicted felons, who presumably have served their sentences, should not be allowed to operate a truck?

It's time the nanny state either enacts the immedate death penalty for all felons, or accept the fact that these folks who are released from jail will need to do something to make a living. Maybe not a truck loaded with gasoline, but trucking sounds like a pretty good job for somebody who just got out of the clink and needs to reestablish a life of some sort. It ain't like they haven't already "been away from home" for a while already, right? Might as well hit the open road (and not the freeway overpass).

[dr_lew]

It’s a common Spanish name. Just Google it.

[KoRn]

"And the Feds are considering letting Mexican truck drivers have free access to USA highways?"

My first thoughts, having read this.

[NonValueAdded]

The TSA and FBI pooches are walking funny today.