Truck driver John Doe rolled along late at night on a nearly vacant stretch of rural highway at the posted speed limit of 55 mph.
Out of nowhere, the driver of a battered pickup truck, who initially obeyed a stop sign on a side road, suddenly decided to pull onto the highway into the path of Doe’s 18 wheeler!
Doe attempted to force the brake treadle through the floor and applied a two-fisted death grip to the steering wheel, but his panic stop did nothing but flat-spot several tires before his tractor rammed the side of the pickup. Luckily, no one sustained serious injuries.
Was this accident preventable?
Doe contested his preventable accident warning letter, claiming that his tractor’s low beams had been on, that he hadn’t been speeding, and that the other driver was to blame. Asked to resolve the dispute, the National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee upheld the preventable ruling. While Doe admitted to seeing the pickup’s lights at the stop sign, he’d made no effort to slow down and/or sound his air horn in anticipation of the other driver blindly pulling onto the dark highway.
CCJ's Preventable or Not series is sponsored by CarriersEdge, creator of interactive online training for small and midsize fleets, including comprehensive safety, compliance and best practices content for truck drivers. To learn more, visit www.carriersedge.com.
