Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/846064
80 commercial carrier journal | july 2017 Rig Dig_CCJ0413_PG108.indd 1 3/21/13 9:56 AM PREVENTABLE or NOT? Corvette cuts off Doe's pizza daydream H aving delivered a pallet of Mrs. Frisky's Rock- rowing Kits to Toys Galore – o Pudd Pike, in the Smurdley Shopping Center – trucker John Doe was heading eastward on Route 409 with an empty dry van in tow. A drizzling rain was starting to fall, making the roadway slick. It also was approaching lunchtime. "A hot pizza with extra veggies and low-calorie cheese sure would hit the spot," Doe mused. A er passing some turtle-paced tra c, Doe continued to run in the le lane at the posted speed limit of 55 mph, salivating over his upcoming order at Paul's Pizza Palace. Simultane- ously, Hortense P. Pocallia, rolling along slightly ahead in the right lane, noticed that cars ahead were stopping, but only in her lane. " ere must be an accident," Pocallia concluded as she hit her brakes and swerved her Cor- vette to the le into Doe's path, hoping to escape the tra c jam. Suddenly faced with the Corvette's posterior, Doe also braked hard, gured that he couldn't stop in time, steered into the right lane, started to jackknife and slid entirely o the road into a he y light pole. He wasn't hurt, but his long-nose conventional now resembled a COE, inspiring his safety director to charge him with a preventable accident, which Doe contested. Asked to render a nal decision, the National Safety Council's Accident Review Committee upheld the preventable ruling. Despite worsening road conditions, Doe had passed more-cautiou s drivers instead of slow- ing down, even when tra c in the next lane was braking. Under those conditions, he should have anticipated lane-hopping by Pocallia and oth- ers, NSC said. John Doe's efforts to avoid a Corvette that swerved into his path caused him to jackknife and slide off the wet road and into a light pole. Was this a preventable accident?