Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/550385
August 2015 | Overdrive | 35 Wade Schimmelpfennig: 'I tried to make sense of what I was seeing as he stood there.' It was Jan. 17, 2012, 14 degrees below 0, and Wade Schimmelpfennig was hauling a load of gasoline on Interstate 694 north of St. Paul, Minn. He was coming up a hill when he noticed a Ford Crown Victoria parked on the right side of the road. A 20-year trucking veteran, Schim- melpfennig prides himself on his focus. He recalls thinking that the car was clean, had a nice paint job and might be- long to an older person who was having mechanical trouble. Then he saw a young man pop out of the driver's side and begin walking. "Your brain has to catch up with your eyes as you realize that he's headed, coun- terintuitively, toward the traffic," Schim- melpfennig says. "I tried to make sense of what I was seeing as he stood there, ready to step out into my lane, like he was waiting for something. Right then, I knew he was waiting for the semis." The trucker made eye contact with the man and then steered slightly left, trying to avoid the hit. That's when the man crouched low and sprinted directly into The increasing use of video recorders, including forward-facing dashcams, has begun to shed light on more cases of highway suicide. Search "suicide by truck" on YouTube, and you'll find videos that show four-wheelers and pedestrians deliberately colliding with trucks, usually ending in death. Steve Mitgang, chief executive officer of Smart - Drive, a system for forward-facing and driver-facing dashcam systems, says the company cannot determine how many of the recorded pedestrian deaths are suicides. "We do see an increase of nearly 30 percent year-over-year in the number of incidents where a pedestrian was involved" based on accidents per miles driven, he says. "Unfortunately, our requests to help with incident investigations believed to be suicides has increased in every month of the past year." Fleet executives contacted for this story were re - luctant to discuss their awareness of suicide by truck, given its sensitive nature. Some fleets also shy away from the topic because of related ongoing litigation. One of the chief selling points for forward-facing video is that it can exonerate the truck driver in the case of accidents. "If someone runs, walks or drives into your truck, the burden of proof is on the trucker in the absence of witnesses or video footage," Mitgang says. Because the system records the driver's actions in those fractional seconds before the accident, "You don't have to add, 'victim of legal system,' " to the tragedy, he says. Apart from legal protection, the evidence also can help emotionally. "For drivers, the system can give them peace of mind and show that there really was nothing they could do under those circumstances," Mitgang says. These frames are taken from dashcam video shot by Jack Rivera, a New York own- er-operator. The SUV driver survived her suicide attempt. The trucker and another four-wheeler were injured. To see the video, visit overdriveonline.com/dashcamcentral. Read more about Rivera's encounter on page 40. Dashcams' shocking evidence