Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/815349
80 commercial carrier journal | april 2017 Rig Dig_CCJ0413_PG108.indd 1 3/21/13 9:56 AM PREVENTABLE or NOT? Doe's trailer sliced during pizza pullover A t noon, rain was falling on Mugwump Parkway. Northbound, John Doe was waiting for a chance to turn his tractor-trailer across the opposing traffic lane and enter the parking lot at Pearl's Pizza Palace. "10-4 on the low-cal cheese and veggies," mused Doe. Finally, confronted by a virtually empty stretch of road, Doe started his turn. Simultaneously, far ahead in the southbound lane, Betsy Bibbel put the pedal to the metal in her bright blue Trans Am Formula 350, seek- ing to beat the "pink" traffic light in her path. Traveling at warp speed, Bibbel shot through the intersection – and suddenly was faced with the last few feet of Doe's trailer as it was disappearing into Pearl's lot. Bibbel realized at the last second that she'd badly miscalculated her closing speed and slammed on her brakes, but her emergency maneuvers weren't enough to avoid the right rear corner of Doe's trailer. ankfully she wasn't hurt, but when authorities arrived on the scene, they cited a now-starving Doe for failure to yield right-of-way. He never got his veggie pizza, and to make matters worse, he later got slapped with a warning letter from his safety direc- tor, who charged him with a preventable accident. A flabbergasted Doe contested the decision, and the case was turned over to the National Safety Council's Accident Review Committee. NSC ruled in Doe's favor, saying there was nothing he could have done to anticipate or ward off Bibbel's mindless sneak attack. John Doe was turning left into a restaurant's parking lot when a speeding driver came from out of nowhere in the opposite lane and couldn't avoid a collision. Was this a preventable accident? Mugwump Parkway Pearl's Pizza Palace