Posted on 11/14/2025 10:21:15 AM PST by PilotDave
A 23-year-old New York man was killed when the semi-truck he was driving went off the side of Wolf Creek Pass on Monday, according to Colorado State Patrol.
The crash happened around 8:30 a.m. on U.S. Highway 160 in Mineral County, a CSP spokesman said. The driver, who hasn't yet been identified, was hauling canned beverages in a 2020 Freightliner when he lost control of the truck. Witnesses told investigators they saw it moving at a high rate of speed with black smoke coming from its brakes.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
The truck driver killed in a recent crash on Wolf Creek Pass has been identified as 23-year-old Sukhpreet Singh. The crash occurred when his semi-truck struck a guardrail, went off the road, and tumbled down an embankment, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
How many rows of chickens were wiped out going through the tunnel marked 12’-9” ?
Black smoke from brakes? Not supposed to happen. Pro brakemen will have to fill us in with the reasons.
We love the illegals here in Colorado.
They receive SNAP benefits, free healthcare, and I know some live in my apartment complex. These girls can’t speak English.
He didn’t sufficiently downshift and the brakes overheated thereby becoming useless.
OK. He didn’t belong here and finagled a job for which he was not qualified. Yet fairly sure he did not intend to die and leave his family. Biden, Newsom and the people who knowingly hired him should be held accountable.
That’s the pass where Big Head Tod and the Monsters spend a very cold snowy night when their bus broke down. Very long and steep descent, truckers have to go low gear and take their time. Another musician friend had his gas line freeze on that pass. (Gasoline starts to freeze at 40 below.) He waited until the sun came up and it defrosted enough to start and drive.
Omygosh! How tragic! Please don't let it be beer. Please don't let it be beer. Please don't let it be beer.
Drums expand when overheating...brakes become ineffective.
They probably were burning.
At least he didn’t kill nobody else.
Trucks need to keep speeds down and use transmission and engine braking to prevent a runaway like this.
Training and skill matters.
Just driving off cliffs Americans won’t do.
Probably driving a stick, which are going extinct in the trucking world. So he chose the wrong gear to descend, and waited too long to correct.....and once the truck got to a certain speed....it’s impossible to get in gear. You are left with the engine (Jake) brake, pumping the service brakes, and locking up the trailer brakes....and a prayer.
If your brakes are smoking in that situation, you made several errors prior to that.
Came over the pass just about a month ago from Pagosa on way home.
They have (or had) sand runaway ramps on that pass. Wonder if he even knew what they were for?
I like short explanations too.
Not always good at it.
[Verse 1]
Me and Earl was haulin’ chickens
On the flatbed out of Wiggins
And we’d spent all night on the uphill side
Of 37 miles of hell called Wolf Creek Pass
Which is up on the Great Divide
[Verse 2]
We was sittin’ there suckin’ toothpicks
Drinkin’ Nehis and onion soup mix
And I says, “Earl, let’s mail a card to mother
And then send them chickens on down the other side
Yeah, let’s give ‘em a ride”
[Chorus]
Wolf Creek Pass
Way up on the Great Divide
Truckin’ on down the other side
[Verse 3]
Well, Earl put down his bottle
Mashed his foot down on the throttle
And then a couple of boobs with a thousand cubes
In a 1948 Peterbilt screamed to life
We woke up the chickens
See country shows near Newark
Get tickets as low as $90
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[Verse 4]
We roared up off of that shoulder
Spraying pine cones, rocks, and boulders
And put four hundred head of them Rhode Island Reds
And a couple of burnt-out roosters on the line
Look out below ‘cause here we go
[Chorus]
Wolf Creek Pass
Way up on the Great Divide
Truckin’ on down the other side
[Verse 5]
Well, we commenced to truckin’
And them hens commenced to cluckin’
And Earl took out a match and scratched his pants
And lit up the unused half of a dollar cigar and took a puff
Says, “My, ain’t this pretty up here”
[Verse 6]
I says, “Earl, this hill can spill us
You better slow down, you gon’ kill us
Just make one mistake and it’s the pearly gates
For them 85 crates of USDA-approved cluckers
You wanna hit second?”
[Chorus]
Wolf Creek Pass
Way up on the Great Divide
Truckin’ on down the other side
[Verse 7]
Well, Earl grabbed on the shifter
And he stabbed ‘er into fifth gear
And then the chromium-plated
Fully-illuminated genuine accessory shift knob
Come right off in his hand
I says, “You wanna screw that thing back on, Earl?”
[Verse 8]
He was tryin’ to thread it on there
When the fire fell off of his cigar
And dropped on down, sorta rolled around
And then lit the cuff of Earl’s pants
And burned a hole in his sock
Yeah, sorta set him right on fire
[Verse 9]
I looked on out of the window
And I started countin’ phone poles
Going by at the rate of four to the seventh power
Well, I put two and two together
And added twelve and carried five
Come up with twenty two thousand telephone poles an hour
[Verse 10]
I looked at Earl and his eyes was wide
His lip was curled and his leg was fried
And his hand was froze to the wheel
Like a tongue to a sled in the middle of a blizzard
[Verse 11]
I says, “Earl, I’m not the type to complain
But the time has come for me to explain
That if you don’t apply some brake real soon
They’re going to have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon”
[Verse 12]
Well, Earl rared back, cocked his leg, stepped down as hard as he could on the brake
And the pedal went clear to the floor and stayed right there on the floor
He says it’s sorta like steppin’ on a plum
[Verse 13]
Well, from there on down it just wasn’t real pretty
It was hairpin county and switchback city
One of ‘em looked like a can full of worms
Another one looked like malaria germs
[Verse 14]
Right in the middle of the whole damn show
Was a real nice tunnel, now wouldn’t you know
Sign says clearance to the twelve foot line
But the chickens was stacked to thirteen nine
[Verse 15]
Well, we shot that tunnel at a hundred and ten
Like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen
We took that top row of chickens off slicker than the scum off a Louisiana swamp
[Verse 16]
Went down and around, around and down
And we run out of ground at the edge of town
Bashed into the side of the feed store
Downtown Pagosa Springs
[Chorus]
Wolf Creek Pass
Way up on the Great Divide
Truckin’ on down the other side
Wolf Creek Pass
Way up on the Great Divide
Truckin’ on down the other side
Wolf Creek Pass way up on the Great Divide
Truckin’ on down to the other side.
In a 1948 Peterbilt.
The chickens never made it.
“New York man”
I am truly sorry the man died; however, my first thought was about the “canned beverages.” Were there empty cans in the cab?
Earl, I’m not the type to complain
But the time has come for me to explain
That if you don’t apply some brake real soon
They’re going to have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon
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