Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/116194
PREVENTABLE or NOT? Doe pained by four-wheeler's lane switch THE CURVES MAKE IT EFFICIENT. THE EDGE MAKES IT OURS. Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info Add our Fuel Efficiency (FE) package to a 4900SB and you get classic styling combined with aerodynamics, lightweight options and up to 530 horsepower under the hood to create the first fuel efficient truck that is all Western Star. FIND OUT MORE AT WESTERNSTAR.COM WS/MC-A-480. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Western Star Truck Sales, Inc. is registered to ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004. Copyright © 2013 Daimler Trucks North America LLC. All rights reserved. Western Star Truck Sales, Inc. is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler company. 116 H aving delivered a shrinkwrapped pallet of Mrs. Frisky's RockThrowing Kits to Toys Galore – off Pudd Pike, in the Smurdley Shopping Center – trucker John Doe was heading eastward on Route 409 with an empty dry van in tow. An icy rain was starting to fall, making the roadway slick, and it also was approaching lunchtime. "A hot pizza with extra veggies and low-calorie cheese sure would hit the spot," mused Doe, who was watching his weight, after all. After passing some turtle-paced traffic, Doe continued to run in the left lane at the posted speed limit of 55 mph, daydreaming about his imminent arrival at Paul's Pizza Paradise. Simultaneously, Hortense P. Pocallia, rolling along slightly ahead in the right lane, John Doe tried to avoid a fournoticed that cars ahead were stopping, but only in her wheeler that lane. "There must be an accident," Pocallia concluded steered into his as she hit her brakes and swerved her Corvette to the lane, but his left into Doe's path, hoping to escape the traffic jam. rig jackknifed Suddenly faced with the Corvette's bright-red posand slid off the terior, Doe also braked hard, figured that he couldn't road into a light stop in time, steered into the right lane, started to pole. Was this a preventable jackknife and slid entirely off the road into a hefty accident? light pole. Doe wasn't hurt, but his long-nose conventional now resembled a cabover, inspiring his safety director to charge him with a preventable accident, which Doe contested. Asked to render a final decision, the National Safety Council's Accident Review Committee upheld the preventable ruling. Despite worsening road conditions, Doe had passed more-cautious drivers instead of slowing down, even when traffic in the next lane was braking. Under those conditions, a professional driver should have anticipated lane-hopping by Pocallia and others, NSC said. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | MARCH 2013 7677_2_FE_1-3rd_CommCarrJour.indd 1 Untitled-3 1 CCJ_0313_Preventable.indd 116 1/9/13 3:48 PM 1/11/13 9:10 AM 2/20/13 11:20 AM