Driver in Bay Area highway collapse had history of arrests

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

[BurbankKarl]

They let it burn so the foam and fuel wouldnt hurt the little fishies in SF Bay.

[SFConservative]

On Google Maps, this ramp looks like a broad sweeping turn. I don’t see anything like the progessive increase in curvature, e.g., which one often finds on exit ramps.

I take that puppy every Monday morning around 4:00 AM as I do my weekly commute from the Sacramento area to Palo Alto. That ramp is very misleading, as it first curves smoothly leftward and then you suddenly have to correct rightward to line up toward South 880 at the split between East 580 and South 880. The split is almost invisible until you are almost on top of it due to the vertical grade and then leveling of the ramp. Very badly aligned, and worst in light traffic as the initial entry seems to support a high speed.

I'm not making a blanket excuse for the driver, but if this was one of the first times he made this run he was definitely at risk due to the lousy alignment and design of this ramp, both laterally and vertically.

[Diver Dave]

KOVR13 News (Sacramento - CBS affil) at 10 pm had an udate on the driver.

True, he does have prior criminal convictions, however, reporter stated that during his latest incarcerations, he turned his life around, accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, and has turned from his old ways.

His pastor in Woodland had praise for him and his character as well as did his next-door neighbor.

I’ll go along with the thinking that this was just an accident - nothing more, nothing less.

He will remain hospitalized for burn treatment for six more days. I’d be willing to suggest that given the hour of the accident, he might possibly have been cut-off by a drunk driver.

[dr_lew]

Experto credite

Anyway, here are some Google Maps screen grabs. The crash and fire were under the roadway in the red circle, and the green circles show the turning radius of the curves you mentioned. The crash happened still inside the first curve, so he must have lost control before that, well within the first curve.

For comparison I include the infamous "cemetery curve" ( note the cemetery ) on old Route 22 in Easton Pa. This used to be part of I-78 before a bypass was built south of the city some 10 or 15 years ago, now.

[Mila]

“You are pretty close. He has an Arabic name.”

I would have guessed that it was Spanish. Could it be both,presently Spanish but with Arabic roots?

[FreedomPoster]

Yes, all those U.S. colonies in . . . in . . . in . . .wait a minute, where were those U.S. colonies?

[arizonarachel]

I thought it was shady that he walked away from the accident, called a cab and went to the hospital instead of calling 911. But...that’s just me.

[BlackbirdSST]

Yes, all those U.S. colonies in . . . in . . . in . . .wait a minute, where were those U.S. colonies?

My guess? The entire SW USA, considering the other unseemly race baiting tactics used by the other poster. Blackbird.

[Godzilla]

Except that he was SPEEDING, for crying out loud!!!

I guess you never SPEED too, or is it ok for you and not others?

[OB1kNOb]

Mosqueda = Mosquito?

[TaMoDee]

Yes, I thought about that. The “Moors” were in Spain until about 1492 or so. Many cities have an Arabic name -—Granada-— for example. His now family carried over to Mexico by someone.

[Minutemen]

Interesting. How come people with all these “fur-eign” sounding surnames are involved with all these disasterous calamities of late? Are there no more Smiths,Jones or Rogers left to do the deeds?

[TaMoDee]

In the city in the Mid-West were I grew up there were very few Smiths, Jones, or Rogers. More ski’s, ta’s, er’s, ich’s etc! They had all the calamities.
More “vowel-endings” in California than ever with no end ever!

[Cruising Speed]

Everyday, car drivers cut off and stop in front of 18 wheelers

Yes, I see them every time I drive...fools.

OTOH, I've been deliberately forced off the road by a mad truck driver and rear-ended off the road by an errant truck driver (no, we didn't cut in front, the road was only two lanes and we weren't even stopping).

[at bay]

And me-

“He walked away from the scene and hailed a cab...”

More of his exercising good post-prison judgment.

[jackibutterfly]

"I guess you never SPEED too, or is it ok for you and not others?"

Oh, my gosh, I can't believe I have to spell this out for you. HE WAS HAULING TONS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE BEHIND HIM, YOU GOOF! When and if I EVER haul tons of hazardous waste behind ME, then I WILL NOT SPEED. Got it? And, yes, I've caught myself "speeding", and when I do, I slow down. But, that's not very often. And when I do, no, it's not ok. OK?

[supercat]

I thought it was shady that he walked away from the accident, called a cab and went to the hospital instead of calling 911. But...that’s just me.

According to the article I read, he didn't phone the cab--he saw it and asked the driver to take him to the hospital.

[arizonarachel]

Hm. What I heard on the news (granted several days ago now) was that he walked to a gas station and called a cab. Either way, it still doesn’t explain why he didn’t call 911.

[antiunion person]

I’m not saying all truck drivers are angels by any means. Also, I did a little research today and asked around about the company involved. This company likes to hire drivers stay out of school because they can get away with low wages and long hours with no overtime. This company also has a fleet of trucks that are substandard and no one seems to do anything about it. The CHP has already been clamping down on tankers in the Bay Area. What they should do is check the maintenance records of the company whose truck crashed. Lastly, what I heard from a friend of the driver who did crash, he overcompensated on the turn and the product in the compartments went one way and he went another. BANG!!! or BOOM in the this case.