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Trains News Wire FLASH: Log truck smashes into tourist train; one killed
I hope this driver thinks of those he harmed every single day for the rest of his miserable life.
“I’m loosing track of all the truck-Train accidents in the past three days. So far there have been ones in ND, ID, MO, KY, WV, WA, NE, IA, and TX x2, and probably some that I have missed.”
Cumberland County PA-truck stalled on crossing a couple weeks ago.
I can’t believe the driver decided to run into an oncoming train.
TODAY’S HIRED HELP…LESS
If this was New York State, either the State DOT or the State Police Commercial Vehicle Inspection Units might have put the logging truck out of service prior to the accident with their roving inspection units
To speculate about what was going thru the drivers mind…
Maybe train velocity is 15 mph. 88 feet a second for 60 mph, 15 mph is a quarter of 60, so that’s a quarter of 88 ft or 22 ft a second.
The report says an F and a GP----105 ft
Power car and 3 coaches (80 ft ea.?)----320 ftI
Impact on last cars-----subtract 160 feet
Train length to point of impact----260 feet____AT 22 ft A SECOND???
The train was on the crossing 11 seconds before impact.
Brake Failure?
Visibility: zero…or a fog accompanying white lightening, poppers?
" Through the driver’s mind "
At least this one was removed from the gene pool.
News reports say that the fatality was the driver of the logging truck - may he rest in peace!
Based on where in West Virginia this occurred, and that is a logging truck, its safe to assume this was not an interstate trucking operation, thus it would not be regulated by the “DOT”. The driver may be required by WV law to have a commercial drivers license (CDL) but those laws vary from state to state.
And as far as what was going through the driver’s mind, hopefully it was one of those logs off his trailer.
Having first hand encounters with West Virginia logging truck drivers, I can safely say with 100% certainty that safety is not even in the top 100 list of things to do today. Maybe next year, perhaps, if they feel like it, or not.
Not sure if the driver was a Teamster or not, but it would not surprise me if he was. All the union bosses care about is the dues for financing their golden parachutes. Quality and safety capabilities of the drivers is not the Teamsters problem as far as the union bosses are concerned.
Not sure about in WV, but in other states with logging trucks, CMV enforcement makes a point of going out of their way to pull over and inspect logging truck drivers, their trucks, and their loads. I was told once by an officer he can spend about 10 seconds going over a logger and he will find a really big violation and then see how many other violations can be found.
Speculating, I would suggest the driver was in a really big rush. You know those curve warning signs they post on roads? I like to take them at 5 - 10 under the posted. Loggers tend to go at least 10 - 15 over and then can’t figure out why they flip so easily.
With more speculation, I could suggest the brakes were gone. A logger lighting up the brakes in WV is as common as cows producing milk in Wisconsin. If you crack the window and smell and if the wind direction is just right, you can usually detect a logger a half mile to a mile before he flies past going down the mountain. That should give about 30 seconds warning, at best.
One more speculative item is the weight of the load. Was the driver overloaded? If so, by how much? This is a big reason why enforcement officers are so quick to pull over loggers. Overweight combined with a mountain and no brakes equals disaster.
Where are these drivers coming from?! I used to keep a list of instances of trucks tangling with passenger trains. It became extensive.
You get what you pay for you have a DOT that makes more hoops to jump through (cash grab) every year and once a driver get use to it they change it ( not collecting enough revenue). Maybe if they started paying drivers what they are worth and treat them better you would keep the good drivers and then maybe the new drivers would start to show a little more pride in their job I use to run all over the USA but now I doubt if I would drive a truck down there anymore I like to keep all my pay check not into bailing out broke state treasuries
Mr. Guse, odds of this logging truck being a Teamster operation are about zero. Most logging trucks are run by small independent contractors.
60+ injured according to a report on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/west-virginia-train-crash_n_4086346.html
once again Guse is grossly out of his tiny mind. people died for pete’s sake and all he does is run off the mouth!
W Va requires a CDL for any one driving a vehicle over 26,000
lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight. Most of these drivers are raid by the load, and try to get as many loads as possible in any given day. Safety a lot of the time goes out the window. The WV Public Service Commission oversees these vehicles, but they are stretched thin. They do what they can, but can’t get to every vehicle.
Introduce new warning signs for Railroad Engineers: “Trucks Crossing Ahead”.
It does make you wonder what is going through the truck driver’s mind…my thoughts are with those who went for a day out on the train
I’m loosing track of all the truck-Train accidents in the past three days. So far there have been ones in ND, ID, MO, KY, WV, WA, NE, IA, and TX x2, and probably some that I have missed.