First of all my condolences go out to all the families effected by this tragedy.
I also want to say that I am by no means an accident re-creator or an expert in investigating crashes.
But there has been a lot of talk about this accident that happened Friday morning. Any accident that involves a fatality is bad but this one took eleven lives all at once. Again this is just an accident, they happen and there is not much that can be done to prevent accidents from happening.
People are quick to lay blame, there are many factors that could have contributed to this accident. Speed for one, and I am not saying the truck was speeding or the van. I am saying speed equals momentum and a fully loaded “eighty thousand” pound semi takes approximately four hundred feet to stop at fifty-five mph with dry road conditions. The speed limits on I-65 near Munfordville, KY. is at least 65 mph. I live in KY, and Friday morning early it had snowed, so the road conditions were not dry, at least not here.
The truck was hauling “auto parts” according to news reports, but from looking at the images from the crash site, there were heavy-duty brake drums for tractor trailers strewn at the crash site. This an image taken from the crash site of what the truck was hauling. These can weigh up to around “seventy to one hundred and ten” pounds a piece. A whole trailer full of them would be heavy.
This in my opinion would most likely have been a “heavy load.” I’m not saying the trailer was over-loaded, just giving readers a visual of what was being hauled. I saw a lot of comments about the “cable barriers” that were torn down by the truck. Cable barriers are installed to help prevent cross-over accidents from occurring. They are not designed to stop a loaded tractor trailer.
The driver could have had a medical situation that caused him to cross the median, there could have been an equipment malfunction. We are just going to have to wait and see what the NTSB and the KY State Police determine was the cause of the accident. New reports are saying that the truck belonged to a small company having twenty five trucks, and in the last two and a half years the company abroad had only two accidents and only one involved injuries.
Accidents occur and it is unfortunate that so many lives had to expire in this one. Only time will tell what will be said to have caused this one. And then it is only going to be what it “looks to have caused it”. We will truly never know exactly what transpired before it happened.
© 2010, Truck Drivers News Blog. All rights reserved.
Thanks for posting this. Honestly it saddens me to see people sit there and say the driver did this, that or the other thing. Like you said there was a loss of life, and any loss of life is sad.
I am sure there will be lessons learned from this. And right now instead of going after one person or the other we need to mourn the loss of life. This was a huge toll this time around, and even with all safety matters in place something like this could of happened. As you know even a blown steer tire could have added to this tragic event.
As a truck drivers wife I know every day is dangerous and not only from factors that are under my husband’s control. This accident shows how quickly things can turn from a normal day into a tragic event. My prayers,and thoughts are with all family, and friends of this horrible event. And this again makes me glad of every day I hear the phone of my husband on the phone, or am able to see his face.