Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/795447
80 commercial carrier journal | march 2017 Rig Dig_CCJ0413_PG108.indd 1 3/21/13 9:56 AM PREVENTABLE or NOT? Bus stops Doe's milk run A t dawn, trucker John Doe ambled toward the ready line with a granola bar and a jug of steaming-hot coffee flavored with Hershey's Chocolate Syrup for extra energy. e day's tow was a 48-foot flatbed laden with steel coils. Aer his pre-trip inspection, Doe wheeled his rig out of the terminal yard and headed eastward on four-lane Pickwick Pike. e sun rose in a cloudless sky, and traffic was light. Doe looked forward to an easy trip, but his milk run was about to go sour. Pickwick Pike dead-ended at the I-007 Bypass, where he needed to turn le. To ensure room for a wide turn, Doe got into the right lane, and when the light turned green, he eyeballed I-007 for red-light runners, then cautiously started to execute his turn. In the adjacent turn lane, bus driver Wilbur Smurd also started to turn le, but he didn't turn sharply enough and moved partially into the next lane. Doe, in shocked disbelief, stopped dead and sounded his horn, but Smurd failed to react and sideswiped Doe's tractor. It took several sips of coffee to calm Doe down, but even that couldn't help him get over the warning letter from his safety director for a preventable accident. Doe disagreed that he should have hung back and anticipated that the large bus would encroach on his lane. Asked to resolve the dispute, the National Safety Council's Accident Review Committee ruled in Doe's favor. He had pro- ceeded with caution and reacted properly but still fell prey to the bus driver, who had plenty of room to maneuver and initially did not appear to pose a threat, NSC said. John Doe was making a wide left turn from the right lane when a bus driver in the adjacent turn lane didn't turn left sharply enough and side- swiped Doe's tractor. Was this a preventable accident? I-007 John Doe Bus Pickwick Pike