Truck Drivers and The Industry

My job that I had as a dump truck driver has really went down hill here in the North East part of Ohio. So I must do what is best for myself, and that is get another job. In order to do this though, I must move. There are no jobs availible here in the winter, so I am moving south.
I am moving back to Kentucky, where I was born and raised. I have several jobs lined out down there. Today I will be going to get the uhaul and plan on loading it today and leaving first thing in the morning.
We should be back online within a few days, so if you make a comment to any of these post they will not be accepted until I come back online.

Other news around here is. When we do come back online, stay tuned for some major changes to evolve around here. Anyway take care and be safe out on the road, till we can do it again!

A tractor-trailer driver attempting a U-turn Thursday morning on U.S. 1 caused a traffic accident that killed a 49-year-old Vero Beach motorcyclist and blocked traffic on the highway for hours, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Because of heavy fog, Timothy Powers was unable to see and avoid the big rig without being thrown from his motorcycle, said Lt. Tim Frith, FHP spokesman.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, 41-year-old Florida City resident Felix Villa, was not injured, Frith said.

Frith said the accident occurred about 6:30 a.m. when Villa, driving south on the highway, missed his turn onto Indrio road, attempted a U-turn over the grass median but couldn't complete the turn because of signs on the side of the road.

Frith said the trailer, a flatbed containing palm trees, blocked all southbound lanes. Powers, traveling south on U.S. 1, tried to safely lay down his motorcycle but was thrown off and struck the side of the truck.

Powers was not wearing a helmet and died at the scene, Frith said.

Frith said a criminal investigation is on-going but no charges had been filed by late Thursday evening.

St. Lucie County Fire District Spokeswoman Catherine Whitaker said officials were not able to send a trauma helicopter to the accident scene because of the fog. Source

Alabama has rolled out a new Web site for truckers to serve as a one-stop portal for truckers passing through the state. It will include safety issues, road rules and notice of Alabama regulations - all topics that have been discussed at length in recent years after several major tractor-trailer accidents on state roads.

The state's Information Services Division launched the site, www.trucking.alabama.gov, this week with many other features, such as online payment of trip and fuel permits and maps of the state that identify welcome centers, rest areas, emergency road closures and more, said a news release.

"Trucking is integral to all facets of the Alabama economy," said Jim Burns, the state's chief information officer. "We want to make traveling in and dealing with Alabama as convenient as possible for truckers so that they can transport goods without undue delays or hardship. The trucking portal provides everything needed in a convenient, easy-to-use location and it shows our appreciation for the vital contributions to Alabama that are made by the trucking community."

Set up of the site was free to the state through its contract with Alabama Interactive. Source

An early morning pile-up of five transports on Highway 401 has left one person dead and another with serious injuries.

The accident occurred at approximately 12:30 a.m. Thursday when the driver of a westbound tractor-trailer laden with peanut butter had his vision obscured by dense smoke blowing from a nearby field. He was subsequently hit by a tanker filled with what appeared to be either molasses or corn syrup, confirmed an Ontario Provincial Police officer at the scene.

“The tanker was then rear-ended by the SLH truck,” explained Cst. Patrick Dussault, collision reconstuctionist. “The driver in that vehicle is the deceased.”

No name has been released pending notification of next of kin.

The vehicle of the deceased was not carrying cargo.

Dussault added the fourth vehicle “clipped” the SLH transport, while the final transport began trying to brake “almost 80 metres away,” before coming to rest between the victim’s vehicle and the fourth transport.

A second driver was airlifted to an Ottawa hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He suffered two broken wrists, two broken ankles and broken ribs.

“We’re not sure exactly where the smoke was coming from,” said Dussault, “but it appears it was a controlled burning that had a proper permit.Source

A tractor-trailer driver’s inexperience led to extensive damage at a parking lot on Turnpike Street Friday and left his truck-driving career on hold. “It’s hard to believe this guy tried to pull this off,” said Stoughton Police Sgt. Paul McCallum.

The driver, who police did not identify, was trying to maneuver a tractor-trailer truck between the South Shore Savings Bank and Dunkin Donuts at about 3:30 p.m. The driver steered the truck into a right turn only lane and tried to take a right onto Turnpike Street but there was not enough space, McCallum said. He also said a pick-up truck with a trailer could even have had a tough time with the turn.

The driver, who worked for Tennessee-based U.S. Express Leasing, was working his second day on the job. McCallum said the driver is no longer employed by the company.

The truck went up over the curb, struck a piling and dislodged a Dunkin Donuts sign, which McCallum estimated was at least four feet in the ground.
“He pulled it right out,” McCallum said.

The sign toppled onto a car in the parking lot and the truck’s wheels became stuck on the piling that previously held the sign upright. As it became stuck, a significant portion of the truck’s weight pressed down on the fallen sign, further weighing down the car, McCallum said.
There were no injuries in the incident, police said.

McCallum said an experienced driver never would have tried to make the turn.

The State Police truck unit responded and used heavy-duty tow trucks and wenches to first free the truck, which was fully loaded, and then the sign, McCallum said.

McCallum said there was at least $5,000 damage to the car and that it could be more depending on how the vehicle’s suspension system held up. The sign was likely fairly expensive as well, McCallum said.

“Quite a bit of weight came down on the car,” McCallum said, adding the hood and the windshield were both smashed in. “You could see the front end dipped pretty low.”

The westbound lane of Route 139 was shut down for nearly two hours, McCallum said.

Police impounded the tractor-trailer until the company was able to provide proof of insurance, McCallum said. Source

Two people were killed in separate crashes involving five vehicles on Interstate 65 near Scottsburg today. According to Indiana State Police, the first crash at 8:38 a.m. claimed the life of 22-year-old Austin resident Joseph Kilburn. Police said Kilburn was southbound in his Pontiac G6 when the car crossed the median and struck a northbound semi-trailer at the 27-mile marker.

Scott County Coroner Kevin Collins pronounced Kilburn dead at the scene.

The crash closed traffic on the interstate for 45 minutes. Then, shortly after traffic began moving again, the driver of a southbound semi-tractor failed to notice the slowed vehicles in time and struck two other semis just before 10 a.m. at the 30.5-mile marker, police said.

The driver of the semi was killed. His identity was being withheld pending confirmation and family notification.

No one was injured in the trucks that were struck, police said.

Southbound traffic was closed between Austin and Scottsburg for more than three hours after the second crash.Source

A Reidsville man involved in a fiery truck crash last week has died, Winston-Salem police said this morning. Donald Patrick Carlson, 48, died yesterday from injuries he sustained in the crash.

On Jan. 16, Carlson was driving a Ford Explorer on Reidsville Road toward Winston-Salem when he crossed the center line and struck a tractor trailer, police said. The truck burst into flames after it crashed. The truck driver, Ronald Caucier, was not seriously injured.

Investigators do not know if speed or alcohol played a role in the crash.

Carlson is the first person to die in a traffic accident in the city this year, police said.Source

Interstate 79 South is closed from McKean Exit 174 to Edinboro Exit 166 due to a tractor trailer accident at mile marker 178, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials reported. The road was closed at 8:45 am and is expected to re-open by 11 am today. Several other crashes on the interstate have also been reported, and whiteout conditions are hampering travel in some places north of the Crawford County line, weather observers are reporting.Source

Authorities have identified the two men who were killed in an early Wednesday morning crash that closed all lanes on southbound Interstate 95 for almost five hours. Saintilus Cajuste, 47, of Lake Worth, and St. Pierre K. Dupuy, 45, of Delray Beach, were riding in a small pickup truck near Hallandale Beach Boulevard when a tractor trailer veered from the right, smashing them into the left concrete barrier wall, said officials.

A vehicle changing lanes just before 6 a.m. had caused the tractor trailer driven by Luis G. Paredes, 55, of Fort Lauderdale, to swerve to the left, said Sgt. Mark Wysocky, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman. The tractor trailer then veered right into the opposite west guard rail, he said. Gwendolyne A. Benavides, driving a 2007 Honda, was injured after her car became involved in the accident, investigators said.

Paredes and Benavides were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, where their minor injuries were treated, Wysocky said. Cajuste and Dupuy were pronounced dead at the scene.

The black vehicle that allegedly started the chain of events was last seen leaving the scene, Wysocky said. Source

U.S. 421 just east of Frankfort has reopened for rush hour traffic, after closing all night following a fatal accident. The deadly accident put one driver behind bars. The road will close again later Thursday morning to finish cleanup of that area. State police say a minivan and a tractor trailer collided head-on on U.S. 421 in Franklin County late Wednesday night. The crash was so violent, both vehicles were thrown over an embankment.

Police say the driver of the van was Leslye Robertson, 41. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the tractor trailer was Paul George Neto, 46. He was arrested. Police say Neto had alcohol and marijuana in his truck. He now faces a murder charge. Source

No felony charges will be filed against the truck driver involved in a fatal accident that claimed the lives of two people near El Jebel earlier this month, according to the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors reviewed the case and concluded the Colorado State Patrol took appropriate action in issuing four misdemeanor tickets against truck driver Mark Chamness, 48, of Littleton, in the Jan. 8 accident, Deputy District Attorney Jim Leuthauser said.

“Any county court case could end up with felony charges,” Leuthauser said, but he doesn’t believe that will happen.

Chamness is scheduled to appear in Garfield County Court on Feb. 4.

The citations given Chamness allege careless driving causing death, careless driving causing bodily injury, stopping in an intersection when prohibited and violating a permit by operating during hours of darkness, according to the accident report.

The collision occurred approximately one mile east of Catherine Store on Colorado Highway 82, between Carbondale and El Jebel, when Chamness pulled his tractor-trailer across the highway, according to the report.

A westbound 2000 Kia Sephia slammed into the trailer around 6:40 a.m., the report said. The driver, Elizeo Trinidad, 21, and front-seat passenger Noemy Ramos, 23, were killed instantly. A back-seat passenger, Julio Hernandez-Mendoza, was seriously injured. Source

A Guyton resident was killed Tuesday morning after an accident involving a tractor-trailer truck, according to the Georgia State Patrol. Yolanda Elizabeth Miller, 41, was driving westbound on U.S. 80 in a blue 1994 Chevrolet pickup about 6:45 a.m. when an eastbound tractor-trailer tried to turn left onto Jimmy DeLoach Parkway and turned in front of her, Rincon Post commander Sgt. Jason Riner said. Source

A Galax, Va., man was killed Wednesday afternoon and another man was hospitalized following a fiery three-vehicle wreck on N.C. 89 West just south of the Virginia state line. A tractor-trailer driven by Marvin Patton, 53, of Houston, Texas, was traveling south on N.C. 89 when its brakes failed and it crossed the center line at a sharp curve on the mountain road, said Trooper J.R. Vindich of the N.C. Highway Patrol. The incident occurred just before 4:30 p.m.

*
The tractor-trailer collided first with a Nissan pickup truck and then with a Chevrolet van before hitting the side of a mountain and catching fire. Vindich estimated the tractor-trailer was traveling at 65 mph on impact.

The driver of the pickup truck, 68-year-old Glenn Roy Shumate of Galax, died instantly, Vindich said. The two occupants of the van were uninjured.

Patton escaped from the cab of the truck before it ignited and was treated at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin for minor injuries.

Members of the Skull Camp Volunteer Fire Department arrived within about five minutes of the accident to find the cab of the tractor-trailer fully involved in flames. Capt. Josh Moose said an explosion from one of the fuel tanks started a small woods fire on the side of the mountain.

Vindich said Patton was hauling potatoes from Michigan to Charlotte and was instructed by his company to get off I-77 at the U.S. 58 exit in Virginia and take Highway 89 into North Carolina. He said Patton was told this was a faster route.

Marvin was released from the hospital around 10 p.m. Wednesday and charged with death by motor vehicle, exceeding a safe speed and driving left of center. He remained in the Surry County Jail Wednesday night.

Vindich praised the efforts of Skull Camp firefighters in extinguishing the flaming tractor-trailer as well as the Mount Airy Rescue Squad, who he said are “always A-plus on their game.”

The Galax Fire Department also assisted at the scene.
Source

The Teamsters issued a press release calling attention to a border crash that involved two Mexican trucks, and the union urged the Bush administration to conduct a full investigation. In the January 10 incident, two tractor-trailer trucks with Mexican license plates crashed and burst into flames on a bridge linking Reynosa, Mexico and Pharr, Texas. Four people died and six were injured, according to news reports. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said his union is concerned that the Bush Administration won’t fully investigate the accident because it wants to protect its cross border trucking test program. “The Bush Administration claims it can track all the trucks involved in its pilot project using satellite tracking technology,” the release noted.

The Teamster release referenced another crash involving a Mexican truck loaded with ammonium nitrate that resulted in injuries and fatalities. The Teamsters and other interest groups have challenged the legality of the cross border program in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. A hearing date is set for Feb. 12. Source

A woman is dead after her car collided with a tractor trailer truck on Tuesday afternoon in Cumberland. 76-year-old Janice O'Donnell of Cumberland was killed instantly when her car drove into the path of the truck at the intersection of Tuttle Road and Route 1, said public safety spokesperson Steve McCausland.

The driver of the truck, Kevin Carroll, 43, of Windham, was sent to Maine Medical Center and treated for minor injuries. He has since been released.

The tractor trailer truck is owned by A. Hood and Son of Turner. The company has since received a summons after investigation by Maine State Police revealed its trailer inspection was not up to date.

The details of the accident are under investigation by both the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department and the Maine State Police.Source

A Sunbury man was killed this morning when his van ran into the rear of a tractor-trailer parked on the berm of I-71. Don Wilson, 30, was driving north when his vehicle struck the truck about 7:10 a.m., according to the Delaware post of the State Highway Patrol. He was pronounced dead at the scene north of Rt. 36.

The truck driver, Joseph Isacovici, 25, of Gurnee, Ill., was not injured.

The incident was the second fatal wreck in the stretch of I-71 in less than 24 hours. A Mount Vernon woman was killed yesterday morning when her pickup truck ran off I-71 and struck a tree. Source

All southbound lanes of I-95 remain shutdown between Hallandale Beach Boulevard and Ives Dairy Road following a deadly accident. According to Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Wysocky, the accident took place around 6:00 a.m. involving an 18-wheeler tractor trailer that jackknifed and 5 to 6 other vehicles.

Two people died, both had to be extricated from the wrecked remains of their vehicles. At least three others were hospitalized with minor injuries. It's believed there were about 7 victims in all.

Multiple fire rescue units responded to the scene including units from Miami-Dade, BSO, and Hallandale Beach.

The Florida Highway Patrol is allowing motorists who are stranded at the accident to exit off the highway by using the SB entrance ramp at Pembroke Road.

All drivers are being asked to avoid the area. Alternate routes include U.S. 1 and US 441, University Drive and the Turnpike.

There was also an accident in the northbound lanes about 15 minutes after the initial crash but there were no injuries in that accident and traffic has resumed in the northbound lanes.

The southbound lanes will remain closed until further notice. Source

Commuters on U.S. Highway 93 North near Happy Valley dealt with some headaches Tuesday morning after a tractor trailer carrying Kokanee beer crashed and rolled over onto its roof. Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Roger Dundas tells us that the semi was headed northbound on U.S. Highway 93 North at around 5:30 a.m. when the driver switched lanes and got sucked into the median by soft snow. The truck then slid into the southbound lanes of the highway and rolled over onto its roof.

Authorities say the driver suffered only some bumps and scrapes as a result of the accident.

Officials with Fun Beverages say they picked up the broken beer bottles to the dump, which was just a mile away. Source

Drivers headed north on Interstate 275 at the westbound state Route 32 exit ramp are being detoured because of an accident this morning. The ramp from Interstate 275 north to westbound state Route 32 is closed temporarily after a late-morning accident.

A tractor-trailer overturned on the ramp shortly after 11 a.m. today, said Lt. Scott Gaviglia with Union Township Police.

The ramp is expected to re-open sometime after 3 p.m., Gaviglia said.

Until then, drivers headed north on I-275 at the westbound state Route 32 exit ramp are asked to continue north on Interstate 275 to the westbound Milford Parkway exit ramp.

Drivers should then take westbound Milford Parkway to the southbound I-275 ramp and re-enter the interstate.

Drivers should then take southbound I-275 to the westbound state Route 32 exit ramp.

No injuries were reported and no other vehicles were involved in the accident, Gaviglia said.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol also responded to the accident.

The crash investigation is still pending, and no charges or citations have been filed at this time, said Gaviglia.Source

Marion County Sheriff's Deputies say 24-year-old Joseph Noto died in an auto-pedestrian accident. It happened just before 10 a.m. Tuesday on Route 250, near Woods Boat House. Marion County sheriff's deputies say Noto ran out of gas, parked along the road and started walking south towards the interstate.

That's when a tractor-trailer headed north came around a turn and lost control. The truck hit Noto, and caused two other cars to crash, and led to a five car pileup, deputies said.

Noto died at Fairmont General Hospital. Four other people suffered minor injuries. Source

A Port Huron, Mich., man was killed in a single-vehicle tractor trailer accident Tuesday morning after he lost control on U.S. 20 in Wood County’s Troy Township and was ejected from the vehicle after striking a concrete median, the Ohio Highway Patrol said. Joseph Flint, 54, was pronounced dead at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, troopers at the patrol’s Bowling Green post said.

Mr. Flint was northbound on U.S. 20 near State Rt. 420 about 7 a.m. when he lost control on the icy road, struck a concrete median, and was ejected from the rig, troopers said.

His body was then run over by the semi trailer, troopers said.

Mr. Flint was not wearing a seat belt. The crash remains under investigation.Source

Two truck drivers are being treated at the Greenville Hospital System after a fiery-collision between a tractor-trailer and a South Carolina Department of Transportation truck, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol. A 2000 Freightliner, driven by 36-year-old Andre Finch of Charlotte, rammed the rear of a 1991 truck driven by Dot worker Mark Gyner, 28, of Iva, Lance Cpl. Scot Edgeworth said.

Both men are believed to have suffered non-life-threatening injuries about 1 a.m. Tuesday when the tractor-trailer truck slammed into the DOT’s salt-loaded dump truck.

Lance Cpl. Edgeworth said Mr. Finch, cited for driving too fast for conditions, crashed into the median wall after the collision, which knocked Mr. Gyner’s truck off the highway.

The tractor-trailer burst into flames, Lance Cpl. Edgeworth said.

Keith Sonefelt, spokesman for the Anderson County Fire Department, said it was the second tractor-trailer accident on Interstate 85 in less than 18 hours.

The slow-moving DOT dump truck, which was prepping the interstate in anticipation of frozen precipitation, overturned near I-85’s 32-mile marker.

Mr. Sonefelt said a hazardous-materials crew was called to handle a spill of diesel fuel.

About 9:30 a.m. Monday, a tractor-trailer, which was loaded with rubber, overturned as its driver attempted to enter I-85 at Exit 19, Mr. Sonefelt said.

No one was injured.
Source

State Police say this morning's sudden snowfall may have contributed to a horrible accident that left a Beaver County child dead. Judah Scrutchins, 1, of New Brighton, was killed and four others were injured in the crash.

Police say 34 year-old Tracy Gebhardt, also of New Brighton, was driving an SUV northbound on I-79 near the Steubenville Pike exit when the vehicle crossed the median and struck head-on into a tractor trailer carrying an oversize load.

The accident happened just after 9:20 a.m. as snow was falling.

In all, five people were inside including passenger Laura Federoff, 34, of Lake City, Pa., who was taken to Allegheny General Hospital where she was last in critical condition.

Two other children, 4 year-old Jaxon Scrutchins and 1 year-old Julia Scrutchins, were both taken to Children's Hospital.

Their conditions are unknown at this time.

Police say all three children were properly buckled into convertible child safety seats.

Gebhardt is the mother of all three children.

The extent of Gebhardt's injuries are unknown. She was taken to Presbyterian Hospital.

A 51-year-old McAlester man was killed Monday afternoon when his pickup collided with a tractor-trailer rig in Hughes County. Danny Cloud was pronounced dead on the scene of the accident that occurred about 4:15 p.m. one mile west of Stuart on U.S. Highway 270, according to an Oklahoma Highway Patrol accident report.

Cloud’s pickup went left of center, hit the semi and became lodged under it. He was pinned for two hours.

The semi was driven by 59-year-old Anthony Wayne Green of McAlester. Green was pinned for 1 ½ hours and was taken to McAlester Regional Hospital with arm and back injuries. He is listed in good condition.

Neither Green nor Cloud wore a seatbelt or had any passengers, troopers say.Source

A tractor-trailer hauling half of a double-wide mobile home and traveling westbound on Interstate 80 crashed Monday morning just east of North Texas Street in Fairfield. The accident blocked all but one lane of the interstate and snarled traffic for hours.

According to the California Highway Patrol, shortly after 11:15 a.m. the driver of a Native American Trucking Company big-rig lost control. The rig jack-knifed, with the mobile home section rolling off the trailer onto its side and blocking three of the four lanes of traffic on I-80.

The tractor - or cab - portion of the rig came to rest on part of eastbound Lyon Road.

The driver of the big rig, Dan Effman, 53, was taken by ambulance to NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield with complaints of pain, officers said. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

An escort car, driven by Effman's wife Cathy Huggins, was traveling behind the oversized load, which was on its way to Napa when the accident occurred.

"He was swaying a little like it was windy," Huggins said. "Then the swaying got bigger and bigger."

Although CHP officers didn't know how fast the driver was traveling, Huggins said they weren't driving more than 50 mph.

"It's pretty amazing that no one else was involved," said CHP Officer Darren Carrington. The CHP allowed traffic to pass the accident scene slowly in the fast lane as traffic backed up as far east as Leisure Town Road in Vacaville.

Lyons Road opened just before 2 p.m. and all lanes on I-80 were opened just at after 2:30 p.m.

The mobile home section was transported via tow truck to a storage yard in Fairfield. Source

A Wilton woman was killed this morning when the car in which she was riding collided head-on with a semi tractor-trailer in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 just east of Iowa City. Meghan Vanzandt-Miller, 33, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Iowa State Patrol preliminary report.

The accident happened just before 6 a.m. about two miles east of Iowa City, near the Herbert Hoover Highway interchange. Joshua Miller, 30, of Wilton, was driving westbound, lost control of the Chevy Trailblazer and crossed the median into oncoming traffic, the report states.

A semi struck the passenger’s side of the SUV.

Miller and 9-year-old Tenley Miller were transported to University Hospitals.Source

CAT Scale has agreed to buy Interstate Scales from its owner, Hargett Enterprises. For the time being, CAT Scale will operate all 143 Interstate Scales locations while sites are evaluated. “We are excited about this," said Delia Moon Meier, senior vice president of CAT Scale, based in Walcott, Iowa. "Interstate has a fully equipped and fully staffed office, technical center and warehouse in Evansville, Ind. With both offices, we are now only a one-day drive to 70 percent of our scales."

The world's largest truck-scale network, CAT Scale has more than 1,000 locations in North America. It was founded in 1977 by the late Bill Moon, also the visionary behind the Iowa 80 truck stop and its annual Walcott Truckers Jamboree.

A Ridgefield man was arrested after a head-on collision between a commercial truck and a tractor-trailer rig on Interstate 5 late Monday. Four of the freeway's six lanes were closed temporarily after the collision, which occurred in the southbound lanes a mile north of Northeast 179th Street.The driver of a flatbed commercial 1 ton truck, identified as Andrew Stephenson, 50, of Ridgefield, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, said State Patrol Trooper Jennifer Ortiz.

Stephenson was accused of driving his truck northbound in the southbound lanes of the freeway when he collided with a semi tractor-trailer rig drven by Baldev Singh, 57, of Antelope, Calif. Singh was hauling a load of paper products, according to police radio reports.

The accident occurred about 10 p.m. Ortiz said that Stephenson apparently drove onto the freeway the wrong way from the 179th street offramp.

No one was injured, though approximately 76 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled, said Leah Edwards, a spokeswoman for Clark County Fire District 6. Both trucks suffered extensive damage.

Despite the late hour, traffic was snarled in both directions.

As the demand for truck parking spaces increases along the nation’s heavily traveled highways, states continue to vie for federal money to help address those woes. Drivers may be heartened to learn that relief is on the drawing board, but want to know what they’re supposed to do in the meantime. This has been a problem for many years, and it will only continue to get worse.
States need to get on the ball and start updating there rest areas, and building new ones, preferably truck friendly.
Unless you get into a rest area or Truck Stop before dark chances are you are not going to find a decent, and safe place to park for the night. Truck stops need to be updated as well, I know they are working on it. But geesh we are not still in the 80's here.

Samantha Lee Dambroski, 26, of New Castle,, was declared dead at the scene of a two-vehicle accident at 6:30 a.m. today on Interstate 79 in Butler County.Pennsylvania State Police reported that the accident occurred when a northbound vehicle driven by the Sam J. Dambroski, 51, of New Castle, Samantha’s father, struck the right rear of a tractor trailer driven by Christopher Griffin, 30, of High Point, N.C. The Dambroski vehicle traveled across the left travel lane and struck a guard rail on the west side of the road and came to rest on the driver’s side.

Griffin was not injured. The elder Dambroski was injured but the police didn’t have information on whether he was treated at the scene or hospitalized.

A 15-year-old boy from Ponca City has died after a collision between a car and a tractor-trailer.The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says Tadd L. Merritt died in the accident that occurred about 1:10 p.m. Monday on U.S. Highway 177 at the Kay-Noble county line, about five miles south of Ponca City.

Troopers say a car driven by 31-year-old Chris George Sfragidas failed to yield from a stop sign on a county road and pulled into the path of a tractor-trailer on the highway.

The tractor-trailer, driven by 54-year-old Robert W. Aikin of Terre Haute, Indiana, hit Sfragidas' car on the passenger side. Merritt was pinned for about two hours and died at the scene.

Sfragidas and one other passenger were taken to a Ponca City hospital. Another passenger, 15-year-old Taylor L. Adams of Ponca City, was taken to OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City in critical condition.

Aikin was not injured.

The top of a car was crushed under a tractor trailer tonight in New Castle County, just north of where U.S. routes 13 and 40 split. The driver was removed from the vehicle by New Castle County Paramedics and transported to Christiana Hospital after being trapped inside for 10-15 minutes, fire officials said. He did not suffer life threatening injuries.

“I was pulling in when it happened. I saw the truck making a U-turn right there and then I heard loud tires screeching and then the car was underneath it,” said Mikey Rodriguez, manager of Audio Jam, a car audio specialist store near where the accident occurred.

“He was knocked out at first. I thought he was dead,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said he and two coworkers rushed to the car and shined a flashlight inside to see how many people were injured.

“He was laying still and then he came to. He started trying to jump around the car. He was complaining about his back,” Rodriguez said of the victim, who was a customer at Audio Jam. “I just told him to be still.”

The accident happened in the northbound lane of U.S. 13 just before 6:30 p.m. Wilmington Manor Fire Engine Company 32, which is directly across the street from where the accident occurred, responded first. Traffic snarled in the southbound lanes of 13 as passing cars looked on, and Delaware State Police reduced northbound traffic to one lane. Northbound traffic was completely stopped for several minutes around 7:15 p.m. when a tow truck removed the car from under the trailer.

The trailer driver was not hurt. Police are still investigating.Source

Tennessee Highway Patrol said it found the driver of a big rig that side-swiped a trooper’s car during a Jan. 12 traffic stop, nearly taking off its door.At about 11:30 p.m., Trooper Charles Melhorn helped a motorist secure a loose tailpipe on northbound Interstate 75, near mile marker 42 in McMinn County. Melhorn just had gotten back into his patrol car when the truck roared past without slowing, hitting the still-open door, the patrol said.

Melhorn’s dash-mounted video camera showed that his blue lights were on and that his car was completely in the emergency lane, the patrol said.

The camera also revealed that the truck bore the logo of Smithway Motor Express, recently bought by Western Express, the patrol said. The company fully cooperated with the investigation and helped the patrol find the driver and his rig in Ohio, the patrol said.

No charges have been filed, but the case was turned over to the McMinn County prosecutor for grand jury consideration, the patrol said.

The 1977 farce Smokey and the Bandit includes a scene in which a laughing trucker uses his rig purposely to knock off the open door of Jackie Gleason’s patrol car – a funny stunt in the movies but potentially deadly in real life.

Tennessee is one of a number of states with a “move over” law that requires drivers to slow down and, if at all possible, move to a farther lane whenever approaching a parked emergency vehicle on the shoulder. Violations are punishable by a maximum of a $500 fine and 30 days in jail. More serious charges are possible if the grand jury concludes that the trucker intended to hit the trooper or his car.Source

Delegates from the China Road Transportation Association were excited by the number of trucks they saw on Interstate 81 during their visit to the Con-way trucking company in Greencastle last week. The six delegates were on a fact-finding mission. They were from different Chinese provinces and wanted to get ideas for ways to improve the Chinese trucking industry.

“The Chinese trucking industry is still in its infancy,” said Warren Hoemann, senior vice president of the American Trucking Association. “Their trucking industry is moving very fast, though.”

The delegates were taking a two-week journey across the United States to find out how America’s trucking industry works. They visited San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York to view various trucking operations.

“First we have to learn from the outside world,” said Mi Wenju, the deputy manager of Beijing Xianglong Assets Management Co. Ltd. “We see what works in those areas, then take those ideas back to China and see what works best for us.” Along the way, they noticed the thousands of miles of roads the United States has.

“The Chinese are working on their road systems so they can support the tractor trailers,” said Con-Way Chief Operating Officer Dave Miller. “In the past five to six years they have built the amount of roadways that have taken us 60 years. We can’t even patch our own roadways in five years.”

The reason for the massive building of roadways is Chinese reliance on intermodal transportation. China, which owns the largest shipping ports in the world, can use intermodal systems to move much of their production inland to the more rural provinces by using boats, trains and trucks.

“We are spending over $100 billion on transportation infrastructure,” said Mingde Yao, chairman of the China Road Transport Association.

This will allow China to become one of the leaders in the shipping industry in the next few years. But the intermodal system cannot grow without miles and miles of roads and the trucks to travel on them, which was a major reason why the delegates came to Con-way.

“They use farm trucks, old Soviet-built trucks and box trucks,” Hoemann said. “They don’t have double trailers either.”

At the sight of the double trailers, the Chinese delegates were very excited, taking pictures and walking around a truck like it was an alien spaceship. Mi Wenju and a few of the other delegates took a ride in the truck.

“The reason they don’t have these double trailers is because all of their roads aren’t yet up to standards,” Miller said. “But the roads they are building are being built with international standards in mind.”

In addition, each trailer in China is “married” to the tractor, so trailers are not interchangeable. This is because of the way the vehicles are registered with the Chinese provincial governments, Miller explained.Source

A State College, Centre County, man was killed about 5:08 a.m. Saturday when he ran in front of a tractor-trailer in the westbound lanes of Interstate 78 near milepost 29 in Tilden Township, Berks County, state police at Hamburg said. Police closed I-78 for 3 1/2 hours while they investigated the incident.

Police said Peter A. Graham, 21, had been in a car en route to St. Luke's Hospital-Allentown. The car's driver, Tara H. Graham, 30, of State College, told police her brother was distraught and tried to jump out of the moving vehicle. When she pulled the car over, he ran into traffic. Graham was pronounced dead at the scene by Berks County Deputy Coroner William Hertzog at 6:40 a.m. The tractor-trailer driver, Jeremiah White, 35, of York, York County, was not hurt.
Source

A morning wreck has traffic backed up for miles on northbound Interstate 85 in Anderson County. State troopers say only one lane of traffic is open northbound, after a tractor trailer overturned at exit 19 just before 9:30 this morning. Troopers say it tipped trying to get on the interstate and fell in front of a van. They say the van swerved to avoid a crash and ended up hitting the retaining wall and guard rail.
Emergency crews took drivers of both vehicles to AnMed Health Center in Anderson, according to troopers.
They say the clean-up, and backups, will last into the afternoon.Source

It was not a good morning for medlight, or for the patient they were supposed to be transporting to the hospital overnight. At around 1:30 a.m., a tractor-trailer carrying lumber overturned on Highway 67 near the I-65 exit. Priceville volunteer firefighters say the truck's load shifted as the driver exited I-65.

They had to cut the driver out of the wreckage. Here's what made the accident especially difficult for medflight and the truck driver. First of all, medflight was using a borrowed helicopter because theirs was in the shop for routine maintenance. Now, the chopper they had borrowed is undergoing maintenence also. That's because when they started to take off to transport the driver to Huntsville Hospital, the inside of the chopper filled with smoke.

Emergency crews ended up having to transport the driver to the hospital in an ambulance.

The helicopter was in the middle of Highway 67 for hours overnight while crews waited for a mechanic to come fix it.Source

Another logging truck driver was killed in northern B.C. last week. It's the first log truck fatality of 2008, after a 14-month gap of such incidents, Canadian Press (CP) reports. Fort St. James RCMP say the driver of the loaded logging truck was killed in a collision with an empty logging truck.

The incident is still under investigation and the name of the truck driver was not been released.

More than 30 logging truck drivers and other forestry drivers have been killed in the northern B.C. interior since 1995.

The trucking and logging industries have made a concerted effort over the last year to examine the problem of trucking-related accidents.

Forestry related deaths in B.C.'s northern interior have been steadily falling in recent years, but trucking injuries and fatalities are still notably higher.

In an attempt to reduce the high number of trucking-related injuries and among log haulers in the region, WorkSafe B.C. proposed a series of changes to provincial safety regulations.

MaryAnne Arcand, head of the Forestry Trucksafe Program for the B.C. Forest Safety Council, reflected that there had been no log truck deaths in the North for more than year. ??"You realize we're never going to get it down to zero, but still ... it's not good," she said. Source

The New York State Thruway Authority reports an overturned semi-trailer on the southbound New York State Thruway, between exits 20 and 19 at mile marker 96.5.The left lane is blocked due to the accident, which occurred around 6:45 a.m., the authority said.

State police are responding to the accident. No further details were immediately available.

A single-vehicle tractor-trailer accident on Friday was the result of snow-covered roads and too many hours behind the wheel, police said. Police said that at 7:30 a.m. Jimmy L. Rhodes, 67, of Jacksonville, N.C., was traveling north on Interstate 91 in a 2007 Volvo tractor trailer when he fell asleep and drifted off the shoulder of the road. Due to poor road conditions, police said, Rhodes was unable to return his truck to the road and came to rest at the top of a small embankment.

Police said an investigation determined that Rhodes had been driving since 2 p.m. the previous day and was in violation of hours of service rules. Police said Rhodes, who had been transporting 72,000 pounds of lumber from Virginia to Lebanon, N.H., had been falsifying entries in his log book. Source

More than 100 cars were involved in massive pileups Sunday as sudden whiteouts turned sections of highways north of Toronto into parking lots of twisted metal, trapping several people in their vehicles in bitter cold. Dozens of people were injured in the crashes, but no one was killed, in part, because poor visibility had slowed drivers down, police said. Many also credited the driver of a tractor trailer who swerved his rig off the road at the last minute to avoid slamming into stopped cars.

“It looked like a wrecking yard – all the vehicles everywhere, in the ditch, everything,” Constable David Woodford of the Ontario Provincial Police said about the pileups, among the worst in the province's history in terms of the number of vehicles involved.

The vast majority of the accidents occurred on icy Highway 400 south of Barrie just after noon. The largest collision involved 37 vehicles and sent 29 people to hospital; another had 30 cars. In addition, about a dozen vehicles crashed on Highway 404 south of Aurora. Parts of both highways were closed for hours.

Glenn Wright, the tractor-trailer driver credited as being a hero, said if he hadn't reacted quickly and veered off into the ditch, the scene could have been much worse.

“I had to do it. There's no question. There's no other options, either go in here [the ditch] or hit that guy,” he told A-Channel news of his defensive driving.

Lori Ayres, who was driving in front of Mr. Wright, couldn't be more thankful. “If he hadn't gotten off, he would have hit us all and it could have been a bigger mess than it is already,” she told the news station, her voice shaking. “I went over and thanked him. I said ‘Thank God, you saved my life.' Because if he had kept going straight … it would have been over.”

Constable Woodford described the accidents as “a chain-reaction type of thing.”

“All of the sudden, a snow squall comes through, a band of snow flurries comes through this area, and we had zero visibility – like you couldn't see in front of you – and it only takes one person to slam on their brakes and lose control and the next thing you know everybody's running into each other,” he said.

Emergency vehicles were delayed in reaching the Highway 400 collisions due to reduced visibility and backed-up traffic. Firefighters cut away the centre steel median to allow cruisers and ambulances through and to redirect vehicles that weren't involved in the crashes. Air ambulances hovered in the area as a precautionary measure; paramedics, police and firefighters came from all over the region.

Constable Woodford, who lives near the site of the largest accident, was one of the first police officers on the scene and ran from car to car checking people's injuries. He invited some into his cruiser to keep warm.

“They're panicking. The first thing they're worried about is someone else going to run into the back of them,” he said. “We had numerous people trapped, they couldn't get out, injured, the whole bit.”

Hernan Burgos, who lives about 100 metres from the highway, was heading home from church when he saw about 20 tow trucks and an ambulance bus zip by. When he arrived on the scene, he said people were shaken up, but relatively calm.

“A lot of people were thankful that nothing big happened,” said Mr. Burgos, a 43-year-old computer consultant who said the area has been the site of previous accidents. “… There were little pieces of cars everywhere.”

People kept warm in buses before being taken to two makeshift collision reporting centres where tow truck drivers brought damaged vehicles and police took reports. People bonded over cups of coffee while waiting, telling stories about their ordeals.

A woman named Alyssa told Global TV she was “very lucky, very lucky” to have come through the crash unscathed. “I want to go. I still have a four-hour drive to do. My toes feel like they're going to fall off. I'm kind of frustrated,” she said while waiting.

Snowplows and salt trucks cleared the highway and transport workers repaired the median before the highway was to reopen Sunday night.

The area is known for accidents due to poor winter visibility: In March, 2007, some 75 cars, trucks, semi-trailers and buses slammed into each other in two massive chain-reaction crashes blamed on blowing snow and high winds.

Sunday's pileups occurred as a blast of bitter weather brought reminders of winter's wrath. The frigid, windy weather – morning temperatures in Toronto dipped as low as –13 and the wind chill made it feel like –25 – came as a shock in a winter that has been unseasonably warm.

“It feels cold because of the winds, but it's way away from record temperatures,” said André Cyr, an Environment Canada forecaster. “It's nothing unusual because we didn't see very much over the last few years, but we're back into kind of a normal winter and that's what the normal winter looks like.”

Indeed, Torontonians have become accustomed to warmer-than-usual winters; the record high temperature for Jan. 20 was set in 2006 when it reached 11.4 degrees. The record cold temperature for the day was in 1939, when it was –23.3. So far this month, the high temperature was 15.5 on Jan. 8. The low was just a few days earlier on Jan. 3, when the temperature was –7.7.

For the second time this month, the city issued an extreme cold weather alert Saturday to activate extra services for the homeless, including 80 more shelter beds, three additional patrol vans and extended shelter hours. Forty-two people made use of the extra beds. Alerts are called when the forecast low is –15 or colder; the forecast overnight low of –14 was deemed close enough because of the strong winds. The last alert was called on Jan. 1.

The forecast for the rest of the week is for slightly warmer weather, with highs ranging between –6 and –1. Environment Canada is predicting that the rest of the winter will be above normal in Southern Ontario. As well Sunday, New York State police said heavy snowfall and accidents north of Syracuse forced the closing of Interstate Route 81, which runs south from the Thousand Islands Bridge in Eastern Ontario.Source

In one recent inspection, 41 per cent of unsafe heavy-goods vehicles were taken off the road Shelley Zenzen was a careful driver.

The 53-year-old Prince George woman was on her way home after visiting her mother, who was recovering from open-heart surgery in Vancouver.

She was driving an SUV with brand new tires. She was familiar with the route, having made the 10-hour drive from the Lower Mainland to Prince George countless times, even in the worst winter conditions.This trip, however, was to be her last.

On Dec. 18 at about 1 p.m., Zenzen was travelling north on Highway 1, about 10 kilometres past Boston Bar, when a semi-trailer heading south lost its load of railway ties on top of her jeep. She died instantly.

Police said it was snowing at the time of the crash and weather and speed were possible factors.

Zenzen's family, still waiting for official word as to what caused the accident, is devastated.

"It doesn't matter what you do," says Daniel Zenzen, Shelley's brother-in-law. "Someone else can take you out." Truck safety was not an issue he had thought much about.

But driving through the Fraser Canyon from Shelley's memorial service in Prince George last week was a harrowing experience for the Abbotsford man.

"There's a ratio of 100 trucks to one car," he says. "You're just pushed and crushed off the road with all the trucks going up into the Interior. It's scary." The death of Shelley Zenzen is just one of a string of tragedies on B.C.'s roads in recent years that have caused increasing alarm about the safety of trucks in B.C.

Among 28,700 injuries and 460 fatalities from vehicle crashes in 2005, heavy-commercial-vehicle crashes (including those involving buses) injured more than 1,550 people and killed 82, according to the Insurance Corporation of B.C.

Trucks don't account for the biggest segment of road traffic, but they do cause a disproportionate amount of harm.

A Transport Canada study in 2004 showed that truck crashes are responsible for a much higher rate of death and injury than accidents caused by passenger vehicles: eight fatalities per 10,000 vehicles compared with 1.5 per 10,000 for all vehicles combined.

The death toll from big-rig crashes makes up 18 per cent of all fatal collisions in the province.

Random safety checks of B.C.'s trucking industry offer startling evidence as to why those figures are so out of proportion.

Sgt. Ray Boldt of the Delta police has two words to sum up the state of trucks he's seen in the municipality's annual enforcement blitz.

"They suck," he says.

For two years in a row, Delta's targeted truck-safety inspections have yielded alarming failure rates.

In 2006, 27 per cent of 544 inspected vehicles received a Failure Out of Service rating -- meaning the truck cannot be allowed to turn another wheel until the problem is fixed roadside or the truck is towed.

An enforcement blitz last April revealed that the state of trucks has deteriorated even further, with 250 out of 613 trucks -- 41 per cent -- deemed unsafe.

"Something needs to be done with truck safety," says Boldt.

"There's lots of problems with brakes. We had one truck pull in where the brake line was on fire." Logbook violations were also common, with drivers failing to keep proper records. In many cases, inspectors believed the books had been fudged.Source

Police have identified the driver who was killed Friday afternoon when the tractor-trailer truck he was driving crashed on the Route 18 southbound ramp to Route 138 eastbound. The victim was Henry J. Matthews, 62, of Philadelphia. According to accident investigators, the tractor-trailer hit the rear of a 2007 Jeep driven by Elizabeth Centrone of Middletown, and flipped onto its side, dumping loads of garbage along the highway ramps. Centrone was not injured in the crash, police said.

The truck rolled over on the driver's side, pinning Matthews, who was extricated by rescue teams. He was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and died shortly afterward, police said.

The accident caused the ramps from Route 18 to close for several hours as police investigated and crews cleaned up the tons of debris.

Any witnesses to the crash are asked to contact Wall police at (732) 449-4500. Source

To local firefighters, every passing hour without an explosion somewhere on the region’s stretch of Interstate 81 is a lucky break.

An estimated 216,000 gallons of flammable liquid zooms north and south along Augusta County’s bit of interstate every 60 minutes. Added to that are an unknown amount of corrosives, deadly gases and even radioactive waste hauled by truck.

They want to put in a truck only lane...What about the trains that haul that much in a couple of tanker cars?

So far, the local stretch has been catastrophe free. But that could change, experts said.

Yes, it could but it has not. A truck only lane is not the answer, it is however just another way for VA to make more money off the trucks.

An alternative safety measure is the weigh station, where truck drivers, their vehicles and cargo are monitored. Troutville, just north of Roanoke, and Stephens City, just south of Winchester, are home to I-81’s only permanent weigh stations in Virginia.

“I-81 is a heavily traveled interstate. It would make a lot of sense to put a weigh station” in or near Augusta County, said national highway expert Dan McNichol.

Oh, yea exactly put in another weigh station that's the ticket...VA makes enough off trucks now with the 2 weigh station's it has.

Even with a truck only lane, the "problem" is still there. I am all for making these highway's safe. But putting all the trucks into 1 lane is not the answer..

The full story is here

A Garrettsville man was killed in a car accident in Parkman Township in Geauga County, and two others were injured, after the car he was driving struck the trailer of a truck on S.R. 528 Thursday night. Sean Kubinec, a former student at James A. Garfield High School, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. The occupants, Kyle Hunley, 15, and Christopher Hill, 17, both of Middlefield, were taken to Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights.
Hunley, who was in the passenger seat, is listed in serious condition. Hill was released Friday morning with minor injuries.
The driver of the truck, Jeremy Miller, 30, of Middlefield was not injured in the crash.
Lt. Jim Sivak of the Chardon Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol said the car, driven by Kubinec, hit the underside of the trailer as Miller backed the 1995 Freightliner truck into his driveway on S.R. 528 at 8:36 p.m. He said the truck was "almost perpendicular" at the time of the crash, and the car struck the trailer on its side.
"(All three occupants) were trapped inside (the vehicle) and had to be removed by the fire department," Sivak said, adding that none of the occupants of the car were wearing seatbelts. "It's tough anytime when anyone is killed in a car accident. We're trying to piece it together to see how this happened."
There was a light rain at the time of the crash, but Sivak said the incident is still being investigated.
James A. Garfield Superintendent Charles Klamer said Kubinec attended the high school last school year as a junior.
"It's a very sad day," said Klamer, "He was a very spirited and likable young man. As a school administrator, this is the worst thing you feel."Source

The driver of a tractor-trailer was killed Friday afternoon when his truck flipped on the Route 18 southbound ramp leading to Route 138 East, police said. The driver, whose name has not been released pending notification of his family, had to be extricated from the truck by heavy rescue teams, police Sgt. Walt Pomphrey said. He died a short time later at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, Pomphrey said.

The truck had rolled over on the driver's side, complicating efforts to free the driver, who for a time was reported wedged in the cab. Rescue personnel said he appeared to have suffered multiple injuries.

Accident investigators determined that the tractor-trailer, a 1999 Kenworth hauling construc-tion debris, ran into the rear of another vehicle before rolling onto its side and dumping its load along both of the highway ramps.

The ramps from Route 18 were closed for several hours as police continued their investigation, and work crews cleaned up the tons of debris that spilled from the truck's open trailer across the roadway, officials said.

Special equipment was also required to right the damaged tractor and trailer and remove them from the scene.

The ramps were finally reopened at 8 p.m., police said.

The other vehicle struck by the truck was a 2007 Jeep driven by Elizabeth Centrone of Middletown. She was not injured in the crash, police said.

The accident caused a rerouting of traffic from 2 until 8 p.m. as crews from the Wall First Aid Squad, South Wall Fire Department, MONOC Medic Unit, Glendola Fire Department, state Department of Transportation and the New Jersey State Police worked to reopen the roadway and investigate the crash.

The site of the crash has long been a problem, said Pete Chicarielli, who lives on nearby Glendola Road. Ten months ago, he awoke to find a wrecked car in his back yard at 4 a.m. after a driver failed to navigate the ramp safely.

"This is an ongoing problem. When you're coming off at a high speed on (Route 18), you make a right and you get a good look at a curb right in front of you," he said. "To not have a guardrail there is crazy."

Chicarielli said he has petitioned the DOT to make the interchange safer, but has seen no action.

"If I tell you there's been 20 to 30 (crashes) there, that would be a light number," he said. "I don't want to bash anybody but this road really has to get fixed."

Any witnesses to the crash are asked to contact Wall police at (732) 449-4500.Source

A 32-year-old Valparaiso mother was airlifted to a hospital after a three-vehicle traffic accident Friday morning on Indiana 49. Jennifer Reder was taken to St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields, Ill., with severe injuries.

A hospital official declined to release information on Reder's condition, citing privacy rules.

Reder was driving a Ford van on Indiana 49 near County Road 260S with her four children in the van.

At about 7:40 a.m., Karrie Pearson, 32, pulled out of a driveway in her Chrysler PT Cruiser and into Reder's path, according to the Porter County Sheriff's Department.

Reder swerved into the northbound lane to avoid hitting Pearson's car.

She then collided head on with a northbound semi-tractor trailer driven by Craig King, 36, of Kouts, police said.

Reder was pinned in her van and was extricated by emergency personnel from Morgan Township and Kouts fire departments.

Reder's 10-year-old son, the front-seat passenger, was taken to Porter hospital in Valparaiso for leg injuries.

Her three other children did not need medical attention.

King, Pearson and Pearson's 10-year-old daughter did not require medical attention at the scene.

Indiana 49 was closed during the investigation until 12:30 p.m.

Traffic charges will be determined by the sheriff's accident reconstruction team when the investigation is complete.Source

An overturned semi tractor-trailer stalled Interstate 80 commuter traffic for more than two hours this morning, but it appears the driver will be OK. Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Sharon Kurt said the male driver of the semi was transported to University Hospitals with what appeared to be minor injuries. His name was not immediately released.

"He just had bumps and bruises and it sounded like he hit his head," Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Sharon Kurt said. "It looks like he's going to be OK."

Kurt said the trailer tipped onto its side around 5:30 a.m. and blocked both westbound lanes of I-80 just west of the First Avenue overpass in Coralville. It's not yet known what caused the accident, but weather was not a factor, Kurt said.

Traffic backed up for about five miles as motorists were rerouted off the freeway. Kurt said the semi was in between the First Avenue ramps, allowing traffic to exit and go right back onto the interstate at that interchange.

Kurt said the door to the trailer came open, but none of the canned mushrooms, potatoes and other food items inside came out.

The highway was reopened just before 8 a.m. The accident remains under investigation. Source

A tractor trailer carrying fuel oil in Bridgewater Township this afternoon went through a yellow traffic light and collided with a car which was pushed into a school bus, injuring the car driver, police said. There were no children aboard the bus.

The tractor trailer, driven by Oleg Nagorny, 41, of Staten Island, was headed south on Route 202 in Somerset County shortly after 3:30 p.m. when the light at Milltown Road turned from green to yellow, Officer Richard Shimp said.

Nagorny told police he tried to stop his truck, but the brakes failed, Shimp said. Police are investigating that claim.

The truck collided with a car driven by Jeannette Faulkingham, 65, of White House, who was headed east on Milltown Road and attempting to turn left onto Route 202 north, the officer said.

The impact pushed Faulkingham's car into a van-sized school bus, also headed east on Milltown Road, driven by Barbara Long, 52, of Raritan Borough, Shimp said.

Long had dropped off the last child of her run before the accident, but it was not immediately known for which school district. She sustained minor injuries. There was also a school aide aboard the bus, which was was operated by the Kensington Bus Co. of Lebanon, Pa.

Faulkingham, the car driver, was taken to Hunterdon Medical Center with a broken clavicle. She was later released.

The truck, operated by Jersey Oil Product of South Amboy, was carrying 8,500 gallons of fuel oil, but there was no spillage, Shimp said. Traffic was interrupted for about two hours.Source

Eleven months have come and gone since officials with XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio announced their intentions to merge the companies. As of Friday, Jan. 18, regulators with the U.S. Department of Justice were still mulling over the proposed merger and whether it meets the laws governing fair competition.

read more | digg story

Pat Boyle – an employee at The Home Depot – parked his car along the outer edge of the store’s parking lot before every shift to prevent door dings and other scars from marring his restored 1968 Plymouth Valiant.

read more | digg story

It’s safe to say there’s been little waltzing in the Tennessee Highway Patrol headquarters this week.A former Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper will reportedly receive no jail time after he was indicated in October on 10 different counts tied to official misconduct, including allowing a motorist to perform a sex act on him in his patrol car.

read more | digg story

A tractor trailer triggered a nasty crash in Wilmington today.

The accident took place around ten Friday morning at the intersection of 16th and Wooster Streets. Police say the truck driver wasn't paying attention, ran the light and clipped an SUV.

The impact flipped the SUV, which was then struck from behind by another vehicle.

The passengers -- a mother and her child -- were taken to the hospital, but are expected to be OK.

Both drivers of the truck and the SUV walked away unhurt.Source

An overturned tractor-trailer off I-195 and Route 138 in Wall Township is trying up rush-hour traffic and creating delays, according to the state Department of Transportation. Two hours after the 2:20 p.m. mishap, motorists were still being warned that it may take hours for authorities to clean-up the area. The truck was moving east in the area where Route 195 extends into Route 138 when it flipped on an off-ramp leading to Route 18.

Police have closed the off-ramp linking Route 138 East to Route 18 North as well as the on-ramp linking Route 18 South to Route 138 East.

"There is definitely some delay to be expected in the eastbound lanes because the clean-up is expected to last another two to three hours," said DOT spokesman Tim Greeley.

State Police and emergency workers responded to the scene. It was not yet known whether anyone was injured in the accident.Source

Glare from the sun is being blamed for an accident on Route 81 in the Whitney Point area Friday morning. Broome County Sheriff's deputies say around 8:45, a tractor trailer was going about 30 miles per hour up a hill when a pick-up truck rear ended it. The driver of the pick-up truck is being treated for serious injuries.

"By looking at the commercial pick-up truck, it appears the injuries should have been much more serious than they were. However, he's apparently going to do fine,” said Broome County Sheriff’s Sergeant Dennis Rowlands.The tractor trailer was carrying several tons of rock salt.

Deputies are not sure at this point if tickets will be issued to either of the drivers.Source

Crews worked an accident early Friday morning on Interstate 81.

It happened at mile marker 162 near Buchanan.

The driver was traveling south on Interstate 81 when he slid and ran into the back of a tractor trailer truck. The driver had to be cut out of the vehicle. He was flown to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. He was said to be conscious and speaking to emergency responders. That is all the information we have on his condition at this time.

Another accident on Interstate 81 north of Buchanan in last night backed up traffic for miles. Both wrecks have been cleared.

Emergency responders want to remind everyone to take their time on the road Friday morning.

"When you're running at a high rate speed in inclement weather, the speed factor plays a big role, " says Steven Prease of the Buchanan Volunteer Fire Department. Prease says the key thing for drivers to remember on the road is to slow down.

VDOT also released a traffic alert Friday morning saying road conditions are now varying between minor and moderate.

A tractor-trailer rig slammed into four cars and overturned at the U.S. 395-U.S. 50 junction Monday after its brakes apparently overheated and failed as the rig came down from Spooner Summit. Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen said north- and southbound lanes of U.S. 395 were closed for more than two hours until workers were able to clear the wreckage away.

Four people were taken to a local hospital for treatment of minor to moderate injuries, none of them life-threatening, Allen said. The truck driver, Nelson Ethier, 60, wasn't injured.

The accident remains under investigation. Allen said witnesses saw what appeared to be smoking brakes on the rig as it descended from Spooner Summit.

A major accident snarled traffic on Interstate 81 northbound in southwest Virginia. The crash involving three tractor trailers happened about lunchtime near Natural Bridge.

It's under an overpass, which is complicating efforts to clear the scene. One lane is now open, but traffic is backed up for miles.

There was an earlier accident about two miles away, this one southbound. State Police say the chain-reaction crash began with a jack-knifed tractor trailer, then caught up six other tractor trailers and three other vehicles.

That shut down both southbound lanes for several hours.

A wild accident left a trucker critically injured and five firefighters hurt when a tractor-trailer smashed into a fire engine in Queens this afternoon, police said. The impact spun the FDNY rig - which was racing to a blaze with its sirens blaring - almost 180 degrees, sending it through a wooden fence and into the front yard of a house in Laurelton.

A taxi suffered minor damage when it rear-ended the truck at the intersection of 225th St. and N. Conduit Ave., which has a light. But the truck's jackknifed cab was crumpled.

"They had to cut the cabin to get \[the driver\] out," said Jacob Lifshitz, 45, a witness. "It's very sad."

The truck driver was fighting for his life at Jamaica Hospital. The firefighters, from Engine 311 in Queens, were taken to the same hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The truck is owned by MT Transportation of Bay Shore, L.I. Source

Out of concern for safety on the state’s roads, a Virginia lawmaker has offered legislation intended to help ensure that people issued driver’s licenses in the state understand English.Another bill up for consideration this session would designate English as the official language in the state.

read more | digg story

Increasing tolls and privatization of public roads will lead to more traffic and dangerous conditions on alternate routes, the authors of an academic study stated in a report released Tuesday, Jan. 15.

read more | digg story

An 18-year-old Platte City woman died from injuries suffered Wednesday evening in a accident that closed Interstate 29 for hours. According to the Missouri Highway Patrol, Kelsey Ryan died after the she lost control of the 2000 Ford Escort she was driving and struck a tractor-trailer driven by Robert Wolford of Rupert, Idaho.

The wreck happened at 7 p.m. at the Interstate 435 junction. The interstate had opened back up by 10:45 p.m.

The accident reportedly involved two cars and a tractor-trailer. A dispatcher said injuries were serious but that no fatalities had been reported.Source

Morning rush-hour traffic was snarled this morning as the southbound lanes of Intestate 95 in Northeast Baltimore remained closed at 9 a.m., two hours after a collision that left a box truck on top of a sport utility vehicle, according to police. An occupant of a Jeep SUV was flown by Maryland State Police medevac helicopter to an area hospital after emergency workers extricated him from the wreckage. They had to use a winch to lift the truck off the SUV to get the person out.

The injuries to that person, however, are not considered life threatening, said Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police.Two others involved in the crash near Moravia Road were taken by ambulance to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, and two more were taken by ambulance to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Green said their injuries are not considered serious.

Green said the cause of the accident remains under investigation. He said it occurred about 7:10 a.m. on I-95 just north of the I-895 split. Four vehicles were involved, he said, with the truck ending up overturned on top of the Jeep SUV.

The highway was quickly shut down with traffic diverted onto Interstate 895. The closure snarled traffic on other roads as well, causing significant backups on the Baltimore Beltway and U.S. 40.

As of 9 a.m., tow trucks and other heavy vehicles were working to clear the wreckage.Source

The rainy weather Thursday morning has already been dangerous on Central Florida roadways. Before 4 a.m, the Florida Highway Patrol told News 13 it had already received eight emergency calls.

A seven-vehicle crash on Interstate 4 near Fairbanks involved a jackknifed tractor-trailer and closed both sides of the interstate early Thursday morning.

The semi was traveling in the westbound lane of I-4 around 1:30 a.m. Thursday when it hydroplaned, went out of control, jackknifed and ran into the center median. The impact of the crash caused several pieces of the concrete wall to fly across the eastbound side of I-4, hitting six cars.

None of the drivers were injured, but all of their cars had to be towed.

The driver of the semi is also uninjured. However, 300 gallons of his load of diesel fuel was spilled in the accident. An environmental assessment agency was called in to take a look at the damage because anytime more than 50 gallons is spilled it is considered an environmental hazard. The agency will return later in the day to take samples of the soil, because of concerns that that fuel could contaminate the groundwater in the area.

Another crash snarled traffic on Interstate 95 this morning in Brevard County, this time in Port St. John.

Authorities said a tractor-trailer crashed into a construction truck. Both drivers were hurt and were hospitalized. The driver of the tractor-trailer is in critical condition. The driver of the construction truck suffered minor injuries.

There was also a serious crash with entrapment on the Turnpike northbound near I-4. It was cleared up by 6:30 a.m., but there were four mile backups.

As the morning continued, so did the accidents. As of 8:30 a.m., two lanes of I-4 were closed westbound near the Central Florida Parkway, one lane was blocked on I-4 between Lee Road and Maitland, there was a blockage on Kirkman Road near I-4 and the Beachline approaching S.R. 436 was experiencing major delays.

A coastal flood watch has been issued for Flagler County. The National Weather Service says the surf will be rough off the coast today. Right now waves are breaking at around 4 to 6 feet. Minor beach erosion and rip currents are possible on Thursday.Source

Investigators are trying to determine why a tractor-trailer's flatbed broke apart, causing an accident that killed one person and injured two others.McDowell County Sheriff's Deputy J.R. England said a 6-foot to 8-foot piece of the flatbed snapped, flew across U.S. 52 and hit a pickup truck.

England said the pickup's driver, a 46-year-old Mingo County man, died at the scene of Tuesday's accident. Two passengers, the man's wife and son, were taken to Charleston Area Medical Center.

England said the wife was in critical condition Wednesday. He did not know the son's condition.

The victims were not identified pending notification of relatives.Source

A section of Reidsville Rd. was closed Wednesday afternoon after a Ford Explorer collided head-on with a tractor trailer. The tractor trailer, which was carrying bread, erupted into flames and the trailer was completely burned. Both drivers were taken to the hospital. The driver of the Explorer was taken to Wake Forest Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. Ronald Caucier, 40, the driver of the truck was not injured in the crash.

According to police, the driver of the Explorer crossed the center line of the road and hit the truck.

The portion of Reidsville Rd. between Old Belews Creek Rd. and Old Greensboro Rd. was closed in both directions for a couple of hours while the truck was removed.

The accident was reported shortly after noon on Wednesday.Source

A major traffic crash involving one semi-tractor trailers, one RV, two pickups and two cars blocked Interstate 10 West near Sierra Blanca, Texas, for several hours this morning, Department of Public Safety and Hudspeth County dispatchers confirmed. One unidentified person died in the accident. Two pickups heading toward El Paso collided near mile mark 95, west of the border patrol station. The drivers exited their vehicles and while they were surveying the damage, an 18-wheeler headed toward them, unable to stop and slammed into both pickups. That started a chain of events, in which three more vehicles crashed, but sustained minor damage.

Four people, including an infant, were taken to Thomason. One man was taken to a hospital in Culberson County. One person died.

Three of the victims are believed to be from Van Horn.

Hudspeth County Sheriff Department is investigating.

Traffic is still tied up in the area. Only one lane is open in each direction. Westbound traffic is backed up for at least one mile.

Though some lanes are now open, the left lane of I-10 West between mile marker 94 and mile marker 102 remains closed.Source

A tractor-trailer rig hauling beer apparently hit a highway maintenance truck on the Indiana Toll Road on Wednesday morning, sparking a fire and traffic snarl that took an hour and 15 minutes to clear up. Orland Community Volunteer Fire Department firefighters and rescue units were called to the crash scene at the 136-mile marker shortly after 9 a.m.

Safety crews found the front of the rig engulfed in flames and the trailer full of beer beginning to burn.

The highway truck had a barrier device that cushioned the impact, according to a written statement from the fire department.

No serious injuries were reported, although one driver was taken to a Steuben County hospital.

Orland Fire and Rescue units have responded to three serious or fatal accidents in the last few months within a few hundred yards of Wednesday’s accident, according to the statement.

The Indiana State Police and Toll Road maintenance units assisted at the scene of Wednesday’s crash.Source

A Tennessee State Trooper stopped one truck last weekend for exceeding the speed limit. He later found cocaine in the driver’s trailer and learned the driver had been deported to Mexico 10 years ago after previous drug arrests.

read more | digg story

A new payment schedule is in place in relation to a federal class action that pitted drivers against Arctic Express Inc. The case involved the motor carrier’s failure to return escrow money to truckers.

read more | digg story

Drive across Virginia with an outsized rubber replica of testicles dangling from your trailer hitch and you face a fine under a bill before the General Assembly.

read more | digg story

The driver of an 18-wheeler whose tires came off and hit a car, killing the driver, will not be charged in the wreck, police said. The wreck happened Thursday at 9:30 p.m. near the Interstate 35 bridge over Loop 340 in Bellmead.

Two tires came off the southbound 18-wheeler, crossed a concrete barrier and struck a Honda Accord, killing Luke Hausmann, 23, of Atchison, Kan.

Hausmann’s three siblings, Anna, 20; Julia, 16; and Ethan, 20, also were injured in the crash. All three have since been released from Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said.

The New Orleans-based truck driver wasn’t charged in the case, and the cause of the tires falling off was deemed a mechanical failure, said Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Cliff Federwisch.Source

One person was killed after an accident on Route 52 near Roderfield in McDowell County. Witnesses say it involved a tractor trailer and another vehicle.

The driver of the smaller vehicle was killed at the scene.

The driver of the truck was taken to Welch Emergency Hospital.

It happened around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Police are investigating to figure out what led to the accident. Source

A trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrol narrowly misses being hit by an 18 wheeler, but the semi did take off part of the trooper's car door, and it was all caught on tape. The video shows the 18 wheeler slamming into Trooper Chuck Melhorn's patrol car. It also shows glass, shattering from his car door. He was inches away from being hit.

Three days later, we are with the trooper as he sees his smashed cruiser for the first time since the accident. Trooper Melhorn says, "It was close that's for sure. It was close."

Melhorn tells us he had stopped to help a driver who was towing an old car. He says as a trooper, he knows to be cautious for drivers speeding by. On the video you can see Melhorn as looks both ways down the interstate to make sure cars are yielding.

But just as Melhorn walks back to his car and opens the door, the truck smashes into it.

Melhorn radios dispatchers saying, "I've just been struck on the interstate by an 18 wheeler. I'm okay, but he pulled my driver's side door off."

Legally the truck driver should have yielded to the trooper's car. It's called the Move Over Law. It was enacted after a Tennessee Trooper died in a similar situation.

Cpt. Cheryl Sanders with Tennessee Highway Patrol says, "This is a classic example of why we have the law, what can happen."

Drivers are supposed to yield for all stopped emergency personnel. But as our cameras found on I-24, there are cars who fail to follow the law.

Melhorn says, "If they can't move over to the left hand lane, at least slow down a little bit and just be aware."

The trooper says he feels he's been given a second chance at life. "Oh yes I do believe so, yes."

Tennessee investigators are looking for the 18 wheeler and its driver. It is a white Western Express truck with a dark cab. If you've seen it, contact authorities. Source and Video

The wife of U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden was involved in a traffic accident on Interstate 95 on Tuesday, but no serious injuries were reported, authorities said. According to Delaware State Police, Jill Tracy Biden was driving a 2001 BMW southbound in the left lane when a tractor-trailer in the center lane moved into her lane and struck her vehicle.

Biden was taken to Christiana Hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries and released.

Alexander Snyder-Mackler, a spokesman for the senator, said he could not comment on family matters.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, Duane Vanderbosh of Perryville, Md., was not injured. He was cited for careless driving.

Both drivers were wearing their seatbelts.

The accident happened about 9:45 a.m. just south of the Route 141 junction.

In December 1972, Biden's first wife, Neilia, and the couple's 18-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed when the family's station wagon was hit by a tractor-trailer at an intersection. The accident, which left his sons Beau and Hunter seriously injured, happened just five weeks after Biden, then 29, was elected to the Senate.Source

A first-year special education teacher at Knapp Elemen-tary School was killed on her way to school Monday morning on an ice-covered off-ramp connecting U.S. 12 and Interstate 94 in Berrien County, Mich. Kristen Lyn Heimbach, 27, Three Oaks, died when her car crossed into the path of a tractor-trailer at 8:30 a.m. in New Buffalo Township, according to Michigan State Police. Reports said Heimbach apparently lost control of her car on the slick roadway and slid into the path of a tractor-trailer, which hit her car and pinned it against a guardrail.

Police said Heimbach was trapped inside her car, and when a Michigan State Police Motor Carrier officer came across the accident, Heimbach was unresponsive. The Berrien County medical examiner pronounced her dead at the scene.

Although Heimbach had been with Michigan City Area Schools only since August, she had made a tremendous impact, said Joan McCormick, director of special education for MCAS.

"When I met Kristen, I knew immediately I wanted her in Michigan City," said McCormick. "She entered the school system with energy. She was very bright, very knowledgeable and put a sparkle on our department." Heimbach, who previously taught computers to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders at St. Mary of Lake Catholic School in New Buffalo, Mich., was also a volunteer swimming coach for Special Olympics and was due to graduate with a master's degree in special education from Indiana University-South Bend in the spring. She received her undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

The Rev. Jim Morris of St. Mary of the Lake parish in New Buffalo said Heimbach taught at the school for two years. "The kids here are all torn up over this," Morris said. "Before the basketball game tonight, one of the players asked for a moment of silence for her."

Morris said Heimbach connected with her students and it wasn't uncommon for them to keep in touch with her. "Teachers like her are not easy to find," he said

Knapp Elementary School Principal Tim Glidden said Heimbach was "an exciting young teacher.

"She was always smiling, she was always a positive person, she was always professional," Glidden said Monday evening. "She was one of those people who was born to be a teacher. She had a great way with students."

Pyllis Stark, president of the Michigan City Education Association, said, "Our thoughts are with her family. The energy, the spark, the enthusiasm she brought to work will be missed. It's not only a loss for her family, but it's a loss to our profession."

McCormick described Heimbach as "very bright" and someone who loved to teach special education.

Betsy Kohn, spokeswoman for MCAS, said, "She was a rare individual who walks in and makes a difference. She was a young, shining star who blessed us when she landed in our district. Our sympathies go out to her family."

Kohn said MCAS will have counselors available for both teachers and students today.

Heimbach's parents, Ed and Bev Heimbach, and her younger brother, Jace, live in Union Pier, Mich. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

A two-truck crash on Interstate 81 early this morning closed the northbound lanes for hours and destroyed both the trailers and one of the cabs. The accident occurred at 1:39 a.m. near mile marker 2, just north of State Line, and the two northbound lanes were not expected to be reopened until around noon.

Joe Kiggans, 68, a company driver for Smithway Motor Xpress, Inc., based in Fort Dodge, Iowa, was heading north from Kingsport, Tenn. to Chambersburg when his rig was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer owned by Morristown Drivers Services Inc., Morristown, Tenn. The cab of that rig burst into flames, but the unidentified driver escaped with minor injuries, police said.
*

Kiggans' trailer was hauling reams of office paper, while the other truck was hauling 44,000 pounds of jar lids packed in cardboard boxes.

The impact pushed Kiggans' truck up the interstate for nearly a quarter of a mile. Debris from both trucks was spread for several hundred feet across both northbound lanes of I-81.

Kiggans did not seek medical treatment at the scene but said his ribs hurt and he believed he had cracked one or two of them. “I'm going to wait until I get home to see my doctor,” he said.

The unidentified driver was taken to Chambersburg hospital with minor injuries.

Fire in cab

It took fire crews nearly three hours to bring the fire in the cab under control. Fire crews were on the scene until 7 a.m., and the cab was still smoldering at 8.

“We were told a truck had flipped over, but when we got there, they were both upright and both on fire,” Rescue Hose Capt. Mike Luger said. “The striking vehicle burned completely. A small section of the front truck burned a little, but we had that under control within five to 10 minutes,” he added.

Firefighters had to make several cuts in the sides of the trucks to ventilate them and gain access to the loads.

Dave's Truck Repair of Chambersburg and Pennsylvania State Department of Transportation road crews helped rescue personnel unload the trucks.

Both were still being unloaded this morning, and Kiggans said he thinks most of his load is salvageable.

PennDOT crews were called out at 3 a.m. for clean-up and to handle the highway closure. Pennsylvania State Police also responded, and the cause of the accident is under investigation. The highway was slippery from the night's rainfall, but it is unclear whether that was a factor in the accident.

Detour

Southbound traffic on I-81 was proceeding normally but northbound traffic was being detoured onto U.S. 11 at the State Line exit. Fire police were on scene directing traffic, but cars and trucks were backed up for nearly two miles, well into Maryland.

PennDOT crews at the scene said at 8 a.m. that the road would be closed for at least another three hours.

Greencastle's Rescue Hose Co. was first on the scene and was assisted by units from Maugansville, Long Meadow and Marion.

A series of accidents and smokey conditions have delayed traffic in both Brevard County and Polk County Tuesday morning. In Brevard County, one person is dead in a five-car pileup in Rockledge. The accident has closed Interstate 95 north of Fiske Boulevard.

Florida Highway patrol said five cars were involved in three separate accidents around a construction zone.

News 13 has learned that a deputy was involved in the crash, but he was not injured.
Truck Runs Into Work Vehicle

Also in Brevard County, the Florida Highway Patrol is finishing up working on an accident on I-95 at mile marker 208.

FHP said a tractor-trailer was driving on I-95 around midnight when it rammed into a construction vehicle that was laying down road glue. Road glue is used to fasten down reflectors on the interstate.

Deputies said the driver was travelling about 70 mph and he did not see signs instructing motorists to change lanes to make room for the road work.

The driver of the semi was airlifted Holmes Regional Medical Center. He is in critical condition.

The driver of the work vehicle was not as seriously injured and was sent to Wuesthoff Medical Center. However, he was trapped inside his vehicle for about 45 minutes. Trooper said part of the reason he wasn't as seriously injured was because there is a crash barrier on the back of the work vehicle.

Both southbound lanes of I-95 are back open at this point. Only one northbound lane is open near this second crash.

U.S. 1 can be used as an alternative.
I-4 Closed In Polk County

In Polk County, authorities are using an abundance of caution and closing Interstate 4 between U.S. 27 and County Road 557 because of smoke in the area.

Traffic is being rerouted.

That stretch of the interstate is the same place where a deadly 70-car pileup took place week that killed four people. Smoke and fog contributed to that accident and there was some criticism that authorities did not act quickly enough to close the interstate because of dangerous conditions.Source

The January thaw was never bound to last, Mainers learned abruptly Monday as a nor'easter pummeled central Maine and most of New England with more than a foot of snow in many places.

The snow lasted throughout the day, limiting visibility on roadways and complicating the lofty task before plow operators. The January thaw was never bound to last, Mainers learned abruptly Monday as a nor'easter pummeled central Maine and most of New England with more than a foot of snow in many places.

The snow lasted throughout the day, limiting visibility on roadways and complicating the lofty task before plow operators.

Unofficial snowfall totals Monday night ranged from 10 to 20 inches across Kennebec County. Some reports had 20 inches blanketing Gardiner and 13 inches in Augusta. Waterville reported 10 inches and South China had 15.

The area will see little to no precipitation today, said Carl Erickson, a meteorologist at AccuWeath er.com.

Local and Maine State Police spent much of the day responding to snow-related car accidents, but nothing serious, a state police dispatcher said. The southbound lanes of Interstate 295 closed for more than an hour Monday afternoon after a tractor-trailer jackknifed and crashed near Topsham.

In Augusta, Public Works Director John Charest said he reported for work at 5:30 Monday morning and was not planning to leave until the storm had run its course.

While most of Augusta's city employees were dismissed from their duties at 2 p.m., the city's 31 public works employees were working overtime.

"It's going to be a long day, long night," Charest said Monday afternoon.

Each of the city's 21 plows was in use the entire day, struggling to keep ahead of a storm that was at times dumping more than an inch an hour on streets.

In Waterville, where most city employees checked out at 2:30 p.m., public works staffers were also putting in overtime hours. The city's 13 plows were out in full force all day, according to Bob Gilchrist, operations manager for the Waterville Department of Public Works.

The storm, mostly during daytime hours, was a mixed blessing for those charged with clearing the snow.

"The traffic always creates problems," Charest said. "If it was midnight, we'd be out there and no one would be on the roads."

Most students in the area enjoyed an extended weekend.

Nearly all school districts canceled Monday's classes for the entire day. School districts based in Farmington, Anson and Madison were among the few to keep schools open.

In Augusta, students reported for classes but the day ended before noon. Students in grades seven through 12 saw their school day end at 10 a.m. while younger students remained in classes until 11.

Because the state counts half a day as a full school day, those students may not be assessed a makeup day in June.

State offices in Augusta closed at 3 p.m. and many business in the area allowed employees to leave early.

Those hoping to get off the ground at Augusta State Airport were forced to defer their plans until today. Airport officials decided to close all runways at noon due to poor visibility and to allow plows a chance to clear them.

"Visibility is real bad," airport maintenance supervisor Peter Couillard said.

While few imagined a storm of this size last week -- as the mercury hit 60 degrees and December's snow melted away -- residents were taking the snowfall in stride Monday.

Joel Lyons, of Richmond, said he had no plans of changing his schedule to accommodate the snowfall.

"I don't think snow has kept me in since I was 16," Lyons said at the Hannaford Supermarket on Willow Street in Augusta. "The weather doesn't stop you. If you live in New England and the weather stops you, move somewhere else."

David Brouillette, of Augusta, found a silver lining in the storm's arrival and his car's simultaneous breakdown.

"You're probably safer right now walking to the stores," he said Monday.

Residents had apparently geared up for the storm in advance.

Lowe's home improvement store at Augusta Crossing was "really busy" Sunday as customers stocked up on the essentials, manager Jeff Hines said. But business slowed down noticeably on Monday.

The most popular item?

"We can't keep roof rakes here," Hines said. "People want them so bad."Source

For years, truckers have fought random requests for roadside urine tests. As it turns out, the government doesn’t want your urine.Big brother wants your blood.

read more | digg story

Eastbound Interstate 70 at Ward Road will be shut down through most of this evening's rush hour due to an accident. A tractor-trailer jackknifed, and three vehicles also are involved, said police spokeswoman Lisa Stigall. There is no word about injuries.

Traffic is being diverted to West 32nd Avenue. Drivers are asked to avoid the area.

The accident occurred at about 3:30 p.m., and the interstate eastbound will be closed until at least 5:30 p.m. Stigall said a crane would be brought in to right the semi. Source

A truck driver was injured when steel trusses fell from a crane and crushed the tractor-trailer he had just exited. The accident occurred around 10 a.m. Monday on the construction site of Casino Snoqualmie near North Bend.

A spokesman for the Snoqualmie tribe said a mobile crane was unloading steel trusses from a tractor trailer when possible metal fatigue caused a problem in the crane mast and caused the trusses to fall onto the tractor-trailer, crushing the cab.

The spokesman said the truck driver had just exited the cab when the accident occurred.

Video from Chopper 7 showed a steel truss resting on top of the crushed cab of the tractor-trailer.

The driver, who was standing next to the truck at the time of the accident, was struck in the head by a piece of debris.

He was transported to Overlake Hospital and is expected to be OK.Source

Vermont State Police said a man was killed after being thrown from his car and run over by a tractor-trailer early Monday morning. Police said 45-year-old Michael Watson, of Berlin, was driving in the southbound lane of Interstate 91 when he lost control of his SUV and drove into the median. Police said the vehicle rolled over several times and Watson, who was not wearing his seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle into the path of a tractor-trailer travelling in the Northbound lane. Police said the driver of the truck was not able to stop and ran over Watson.

Police said Watson suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Interstate 91 between exits 2 and 3 was closed for approximately two and a half hours while police investigated the crash.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing and anyone with information or who may have seen the crash is asked to contact Sgt. Mike Sorensen at the Brattleboro police barracks at 802-254-2382.Source

The crash of two trucks stopped rush hour traffic on Interstate 78 in Berks County for awhile this morning. Officials say a tractor trailer and a smaller truck hauling a trailer collided in the eastbound lanes of the bridge over the Schuylkill River between the Route 61 and Hamburg exits in Tilden Township. Police say the smaller truck had just come off the ramp from 61 when he was struck from behind by the tractor trailer. The smaller truck then struck the concrete median and rolled onto its right side. It was then pushed about 400 feet by the tractor trailer. The driver of the smaller truck, 53-year-old Rodney Hummel of Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill County, was injured. State Police cited the driver of the tractor trailer for driving at an excessive speed. The eastbound lanes of the highway were shut down between Exit 23 (Shartlesville) and Exit 35 (Route 143) for about two-and-a-half hours. The accident also caused a significant gaper delay in the wesbound lanes of I-78 and slowed traffic on Route 61.Source

Tennessee Highway Patrol and Unicoi County dispatchers say a tractor trailer has jackknifed on Interstate 26 just along the North Carolina border. Dispatchers tell us this happened around 5:30 a.m. in the Sam’s Gap area.
Officials say it's blocking 15 feet of the westbound lane, and completely blocking the eastbound lane of Interstate 26.

Crews say they're seeing patches of black ice in the mountains of Unicoi County, and are working to reroute traffic at this time. Source

A tractor-trailer believed to have been carrying asbestos-contaminated material hit a median divider and overturned on the Clearview Expressway near the Long Island Expressway about 3 p.m. on Sunday, the police said. What makes these drivers want to drive a truck, if they are not legal? It never made any sense to me, because they are in a job where the police can stop you for anything. We are constantly being watched, and yet these guys want jobs driving trucks.

Cleanup efforts lasted late into the night, and traffic was snarled for hours on both highways. The driver, identified as Artur Gaska, 39, initially fled but returned and was arrested on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, the police said.

It really amazes me when they catch truck drivers trying to smuggle drugs into the US. How freaking dumb is that? "Oh yea, billy bob I will bring them their drugs up from Mexico for ya" I guess in this Industry we can say we have all kinds..

Oh boy!, here we go again. Another hell bent reporter against truck driver's. I ask you why do you want to pick on the tractor trailers? I will answer this for you. Because we are a easy target, nobody likes trucks being on the highways anymore. Well I gotta say this, if there were no trucks on the highways then you would not have a DAMN thing you own today!

Here we have a reporter that has nothing better to do than to go on and harp about 18 wheelers speeding and not running in the right lane. Well let's decipher this ignorant news reporter's article shall we?

Over the years I have observed the millions that has been wasted by the Department of Transportation on thousands of signs that state that truck speed is 55 mph. This because the Highway Patrol chooses not to enforce this law.

OK, so he rides around in his car with a radar gun shooting all these speeding "18 wheelers" while all the time he is obeying his posted speed limit as well? Then blames the Highway patrol for doing nothing about it.

Whether this is at the direction of the patrol supervisor or the governor's office is unknown because the area commander of the CHP chose not to answer my letter regarding this matter. I mention the governor's office because the trucking industry lobby contributes to the governor's slush fund; thus he will most likely meet their needs.

Yea, I am sure this happens even with the "new NO IDLE law that just came about! Buddy, I will guarantee you that truck drivers in California would rather be able to idle their trucks to sleep in comfort than to pay the Governor off in his so called "slush fund" so they can speed up and down the highway.

OK, I will let you people read the entire article of lies and you decide for yourself.

The lies are located here

Here we have another news paper reporter who just types what he knows his viewers want to read! He states that a 1/3 of the trucks operating in and around Florida all operating illegally. He states that they are carrying more weight than they are allowed legally. BUT then also states that the office that takes care of weighing trucks is grossly understaffed. OK so how would HE know that a 1/3 of the trucks operating in and around Florida all operating over weight! This article really gets to me, when they say we did a 2 day study showing that 1/3 of these trucks running up and down the hiway are operating illegally. WOW a whole 2 day study? Then they want to know why the department heads will not talk to them about it.

Well here is the article it speaks for itself you decide..

BY FRED HIERS
STAR-BANNER OCALA - A third of big rig trucks on Florida's highways are operating illegally overweight. But despite that, Florida lawmakers behave like the three monkeys of a Japanese myth: They see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

In fact, many of them, including several who represent Marion County residents, won't speak at all about the issue.

After the Star-Banner published a two-day report last October detailing how many trucking companies routinely violate state and federal laws restricting how much weight their trucks may carry, the newspaper sought responses from lawmakers, including the chairmen of the House and Senate committees that oversee transportation issues.

The newspaper asked the legislators if they intended to do anything about the problem. The short answer - at least from those who responded - is not much.

The rest of the lies written here

With the death of a motorcyclist Friday night in East El Paso, three soldiers from Fort Bliss have now been involved in fatal accidents in less than a month. El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry said Staff Sgt. Garfield Green, 27, of the 14100 block of Tierra Halcon was riding a blue 1999 Yamaha R-1 motorcycle east on Walter Jones Boulevard and was approaching Spur Drive about 6:20. At the same time, a 1996 Volvo tractor-trailer, driven by Juan Castro, 58, of the 1700 block of Millgate, was traveling west on Walter Jones and turning south onto Spur.

Petry said Green's motorcycle struck the truck's right rear tire. Green died of his injuries at the scene. Police believe Green, who was wearing a full-face helmet, was speeding at the time of the collision.

Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt said Green was assigned to the 1-43 Air Defense Artillery Battalion, which moved to Fort Bliss from Korea last fall.

Offutt described Green's death as "a tragedy. We'll definitely be looking into what occurred."

A woman who answered the phone at Green's home Saturday said Green's mother was "doing as well as could be expected." Green's mother could not be reached for comment.Friday's fatal collision was the third in less than a month involving a Fort Bliss soldier. Dec. 29, 19-year-old Valerie Talamantes was stopped at a red light on Montana Avenue at Hawkins Boulevard in her gray 1987 Nissan Stanza when Staff Sgt. Edison Bayas, 35, who was driving west on Montana in his silver 1998 Infinity QX4 at a high rate of speed, crashed into the rear of Talamantes' car and another vehicle. Talamantes later died at Thomason Hospital.

Dec. 22, Spc. Charles Messer, 20, was killed in a one-car crash on Loop 375 in Northeast El Paso after losing control of his 2007 Honda Accord. Messer was ejected from the car and died at the scene. Both Messer and Bayas were with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

Petry said no charges are pending against Castro, the truck driver. An investigation of the collision continued Saturday. Green's death was the second traffic fatality of the year the city of El Paso, compared with two at the same time last year.Source

Three members of a family headed for Disneyland escaped serious injury today after being pinned under a cargo trailer that burst into flames on the Golden State Freeway. The crash just after 10 a.m. created massive traffic delays in central L.A., shutting down the freeway's southbound lanes and one northbound lane and jamming nearby surface streets.

Officials say the accident occurred when the tractor trailer traveling collided with the compact sedan just north of Whittier Boulevard.

The car became trapped under the trailer, and relatives who were following in another vehicle rescued the three passengers, who suffered only minor injuries.

Alberta truck drivers are angry the province's new smoking ban prevents them from lighting up on the job because it considers work vehicles workplaces. Many say the new legislation is an unenforceable violation of their rights.

"I think it's insane," said Don Sayers, a long-haul driver who frequently crisscrosses Alberta. "I respect people that don't smoke, but that's my home. I'm on the road sometimes for three weeks, a month and a half."According to the legislation, known as Bill 45, employees of trucking companies can't smoke in their cabs, even if used sporadically or if they contain a sleeper.

The legislation, however, applies not only to trucks, but to all company vehicles, government vehicles and private industry vehicles: any vehicle that can be shared by more than a single employee.

Fines for those who violate the legislation range from $1,000 to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 to $100,000 for companies.

Sayers said it's often impossible and unsafe for drivers to stop and smoke along highways, and said most drivers voluntarily butt out when sharing cabs with non-smokers.

"It's an infringement on my rights," Sayers said. "This smoking thing has gotten out of hand."

"It affects anybody in a commercial vehicle, really, because you can't smoke anywhere," said Michael Samuels, a Calgary-based driver lighting up outside the Road King truck stop Friday night.

According to the Tobacco Reduction Act, which came into effect Jan. 1, a workplace includes all or any part of a building, structure or other enclosed area in which employees perform their duties, including work vehicles.

Work vehicles are any vehicle owned or leased by an employer and used by employees during the course of their job.

It does not include owner-operator Murray Schrader's semi, however, which he alone operates and which he uses to haul produce between here and California.

"This is my home and no one can tell me what to do in my home," said Schrader, smoking, from the cab of his rig at the Nisku 24-hour truck stop near Edmonton.

That sentiment is shared by his colleagues, said Schrader, whether they own their vehicles or not.

Schrader said the majority of long-haul truckers smoke out of habit, and to battle the fatigue that can come with the solitude of long hours spent on the road, which can be as much as 13 hours at a stretch.

With deadlines and schedules to meet, he said, added stops for cigarette breaks are going to affect production in an industry that's grappling with an escalating shortage of commercial drivers.

According to Les Hagen, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, the new law makes sense.

"It's a confined space and that means people are at an increased risk of exposure to second-hand smoke," Hagen said.

"It's a safety issue and smoking while driving is an additional safety risk."

Hagen said he believes companies should help hold their employees responsible to the new regulations.

"There may be some enforcement challenges, but I also believe that most people are law abiding," he said.Source

Beginning on Feb. 15, California will require every truck traveling in the state to have “Engine Emission Certification” labels as part of the Golden State’s roadside inspection program. Drivers whose trucks don’t have the labels will risk facing fines up to $300 immediately and $500 if “proof of repair” isn’t provided within 45 days. The labels are created by the engine manufacturers only. Kenworth trucks with Cummins engines have had the labels affixed for years, Jeff Sass, a spokesman for Kenworth, told Land Line on Thursday, Jan. 10.

Roger Gault, technical director with the OEM-backed Engine Manufacturers Association, said OEMs are waiting to see how many service calls California’s new rule generates at truck dealerships.

Most engine labels are probably still on truck engines, Gault said, although older trucks, especially with rebuilt engines, may have problems.

“When you start thinking about a product that’s 20 years old, a 1988, it may or may not still have its emission control label for a variety of reasons,” Gault said. “The labels are ‘permanent,’ but over the course of time,’ it may not have an engine label at all.”

If too many drivers are cited, OEMs and their association will hear about it, Gault said.

“When somebody shows up at one of our dealerships with a pink slip in hand saying, ‘hey, I need this emission control label in hand or I can’t go anywhere,’ dealers need to be able to get that information,” Gault said.

The Engine Manufacturers Association works often with CARB on truck issues. The manufacturers’ group has heard from many independent service companies and mechanics concerned that they won’t be able to legally rebuild engines for trucks entering California, because they don’t have an emission label recognized by CARB.

“That’s creating a stir in the rebuild business,” Gault said. “We’re trying to work through all of these issues with ARB as the enforcement of this rule begins.”

Gault said that barring a rebuild, most truckers won’t have a problem keeping the labels on.

Most OEMs began affixing the engine labels during the 1970s, Gault said, and many labels are metal plated, and are glued or riveted to the engine.

“They’re pretty robust,” Gault said. “Engine manufacturers historically have realized that it’s very important – not just for emissions compliance – but really for the serviceability of the product.”

It’s possible that CARB’s label requirement may not help the environment. Several older engines may well have the label in place, Gault said, although they’re old enough and include enough replaced parts that they’re emitting high levels of greenhouse gases.

“There’s a lot of pretty old engines that are still running around,” he said, “whether they are in California or anywhere else.”

The producers of the popular TV show “Ice Road Truckers” are going to have to find a different ice road to shoot their series on. The Canadian Broadcasting Channel reports that The History Channel is looking at other options, including shooting on some of the ice roads between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories.

In the series, truckers drove the “ice road” to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories to deliver supplies to a diamond mine. The CBC reported that the mining company, part of a joint venture of mining companies that build the ice road, has pulled out of the production. Officials from the mine told CBC that the series makes driving a truck on the ice road look a lot riskier than it actually is.

Meanwhile, NBC has signed a deal with the producers to bring a similar program to that broadcast network as part of a three-series package deal.

“Ice Road Truckers” debuted on the History Channel cable television network in the summer of 2007. It quickly became the most popular program for the network.

The trucks will still bear the CFI markings for a while, but as of Thursday, Jan. 10, the name of the company has been changed to Con-way Truckload. California-based Con-way got the Missouri-based Contract Freighters Inc. as part of a $750 million deal in August 2007 that also included Transportation Resources Inc.

The combined companies now have 2,800 tractors, 8,000 trailers and 3,500 employees.

According to a statement from Fitch Ratings, an international credit rating agency, the purchase and a restructuring move has given Con-way a stronger economic base.

“The acquisition of TRI and its Contract Freighters Inc. truckload subsidiary has diversified Con-way’s revenue base while also driving additional cost savings, as CFI was the LTL operation’s largest third-party linehaul transportation provider prior to the acquisition,” stated a Fitch Ratings report.

“Along with the rest of the U.S. trucking industry, Con-way’s less-than-truckload business has been challenged over the past year. ... To offset the effects of the weaker pricing environment, Con-way has undertaken a restructuring initiative to combine its three regional U.S. LTL companies into a single operation, which will reduce administrative overhead expenses and increase operational synergies within the LTL business.”

Seven members of a Canadian high school boys' basketball team and one adult woman were killed early Saturday morning when their van collided with a pick-up truck. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Derek Strong said the players between the ages of 15 and 18 were pronounced dead at the crash site after their van crossed the centre line and hit the truck shortly after 12 a.m.
«Most of the victims were ejected from the van when it struck the tractor-trailer. Of course that reduces the chances of survivability in any crash,» he said.
Strong said the accident occurred on Highway 11 as the team was returning from Moncton, New Brunswick with road conditions said to be slippery at the time.
Names of the victims have not been released.
Four others aboard the bus are expected to survive their injuries, which included a broken arm for one person. The driver a male teacher suffered unspecified injuries. The truck driver was not hurt.
A schoolmate of the team members who did not want to be identified said five of the students were in Grade 12, while two were in Grade 10.Source

A carload of small-town Kansas brothers and sisters have been identified as the victims of Thursday night’s accident on Interstate 35, one of whom died after two wheels from a tractor-trailer flew off, shearing the roof off their oncoming car. The accident killed 23-year-old Luke Hausmann and injured his sisters, Anna, 20, and Julia, 16, and his brother, Ethan, 20, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. The siblings were from Atchison, Kan., population 10,000, and were in Texas visiting relatives.

The New Orleans-based driver of the truck wasn’t injured.

While Ethan and Julia Hausmann have since been treated and released from Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, Anna was listed in serious condition Friday. DPS officials said she suffered head trauma.

The accident occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of Loop 340 and I-35 in Bellmead, DPS officials say. Two tires flew off the southbound truck, crossed the interstate median and struck the northbound Hausmann vehicle.

Backed-up traffic caused at least one minor accident.

Atchison Realtor Janice Reiss said the siblings were home-schooled and restored homes as part of their family business. The siblings called their business The Hausmann Group.Source

A Mexican tractor-trailer driver trying to make a U-turn on the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge caused the collision that killed four and left six with minor injuries, a bridge official said Friday. The Mexican truck driver, who worked for the Flete Y Acarreos de Reynosa trucking company, was headed north toward the United States with a load of electronics, bridge director Jesse Medina said. About 7:10 p.m. the man turned his rig 180 degrees and collided with an empty southbound tractor trailer from the Oscar J. Cienfuegos Hernandez trucking company, Medina added.
While it would seem impossible for a tractor trailer to make a U-turn on the bridge, truckers on the Mexican side routinely do just that when they realize that they’re missing the proper documentation to cross the international border with cargo, Medina said.
“It’s almost impossible to do (a U-turn) without hitting the barriers,” Medina said, referring to the guardrails intended to prevent vehicles from going over the edge of the bridge.
Efforts to contact the two trucking companies were unsuccessful.

Treacherous maneuvers

On the Mexican side, the guardrails are damaged from the repeated impact of large cargo trucks making 180-degree turns, Medina said. Truckers typically don’t attempt the maneuver on the U.S. side of the bridge, where officers tend to pursue those who do so.
While both the truck drivers in Thursday’s collision escaped injury, four other people in passenger vehicles were killed. A total of five vehicles were involved.
Flames engulfed a minivan and burned the driver, Mexican national Ismael Rosa Guevara, so badly that officials initially were unable to determine his gender.
Three others died when a 1995 Chevrolet pickup truck careened off the bridge, landing in the dry riverbed below. The victims were Reynosa residents Hugo Oswaldo Hinojosa, 41, Santiago Paz Gonzalez, 37, and Daniel Rodriguez Hernandez, 26.
Below the bridge Thursday night, pieces of the truck and shards of glass were scattered across the dirt. Rosary beads with a broken cross lay in the charred remains.
The bodies of the three men in the truck are being sent to Reynosa for funeral services. The wife of Guevara, the minivan driver, is trying to obtain a humanitarian visa to enter the United States to identify her husband and claim his body, said Miriam Medel, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in McAllen.
Passengers in a fifth vehicle were also caught up in the incident. The adult driver and three children were taken to McAllen Medical Center on Thursday night with minor injuries.

Circumstances complicate investigation

Pharr police officials spent Thursday night reconstructing the incident, said Lt. Guadalupe Salinas of the Pharr Police Department. But the investigation is complicated by the lack of skid marks, which were burned in the ensuing inferno. A camera on the bridge that could have recorded what happened wasn’t functioning.
“I would have some tremendous video if it was working at the time,” Medina said.
Authorities will review the findings from the investigation and decide whether to file criminal charges, according to a police statement released Friday afternoon.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation are auditing the two trucking companies to ensure compliance with U.S. regulations, DOT spokeswoman Melissa Delaney said. The department investigates trucking companies when there are two or more fatalities in a crash.
DOT is treating the crash just as it would if the motor carriers were U.S. companies, Delaney said.
Both companies were operating under U.S. restrictions that confine their trucks to the border zone, which extends about 20 miles inland from the border, Delaney said.

Assessing bridge integrity

Early Friday, the Pharr city engineer and a team from the Texas Department of Transportation studied the bridge for signs of damage, and they determined it was safe to reopen for traffic.
“I’m bringing in other engineers to get a second opinion, but no damage is apparent,” Medina said in a phone interview Friday morning. “This is out of an abundance of caution, not a perceived problem.”
The bridge stands equipped to handle 280,000 pounds of pressure per square foot, Medina said. Officials initially worried the fire could weaken the cement. Firefighters, however, controlled the inferno within 30 minutes and kept it confined to the deck of the bridge. Had there been a prolonged blaze below the bridge, the threat would have been greater, Medina said.
Authorities planned to cordon off about 100 yards of the bridge deck and will need to repaint the traffic lines, he said.
The incident occurred about one mile south of the inspection point on the U.S. side and less than half a mile north of the Rio Grande. Officials estimated the closure stranded about 100 trucks on the Mexican side and 300 on the Texas side. Source

A motorcyclist was killed late Tuesday night when he ran into the back of a tractor-trailer on N.C. 710, the N.C. Highway Patrol said. Bryan Chavis, 32, crashed into the back of an 18-wheeler that had slowed to make a left turn onto Tom M. Road, said Trooper J.S. Ransom.

Chavis, of the 1000 block of Missouri Road in Maxton, was thrown from his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, he said.

The tractor-trailer’s driver, James Locklear, 45, was headed home on Tom M. Road when the collision occurred around 11:30 p.m., Ransom said.

No charges were filed. Source

The Teamsters Union urges the Bush administration to fully investigate the fiery border crash that involved two Mexican trucks on Thursday -- and to tell the public exactly what happened and why. According to news reports, two tractor-trailer trucks with Mexican license plates crashed and burst into flames on a bridge linking Reynosa, Mexico and Pharr, Texas, on Thursday night. Four people died and six were injured.

"We've been saying for years that Mexican trucks are not as safe as American trucks," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "We're concerned the Bush administration will cover up what happened because it wants to protect its illegal and reckless project to open the border to Mexican trucks."

The Bush administration claims it can track all the trucks involved in its pilot project using satellite tracking technology that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Will the Bush administration come clean on exactly what caused the latest deadly accident involving trucks from Mexico?" Hoffa said.

A federal law took effect on Dec. 26 that bans funding for the Bush administration's program to allow long-haul trucks from Mexico to use American highways. In brazen defiance of that and other laws, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) refused to shut down the pilot project.

"The Senate voted to stop this program just after a Mexican truck loaded with ammonium nitrate was involved in a crash that killed 34 and injured 150," Hoffa said.

"How many people have to die before the Bush administration takes highway safety seriously?" Hoffa said.

The Teamsters believe the pilot program creates a dangerous precedent on American highways because Mexican trucks and truck drivers are not held to the same safety standards as their U.S. counterparts.

The Teamsters and other safety advocates challenged the legality of the program in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. A hearing date is set for Feb. 12.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hard-working men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters

A tractor-trailer driver was injured slightly Friday morning when his rig left the roadway after he tried to retrieve papers off the floor, according to state police at Marcy. Troopers said Ryan N. Koehler, 20, of Mertztown, Pa., was driving a Werner Enterprises tractor-trailer west on Route 365 around 8:18 a.m. when the truck left the north shoulder of the road, traveled down a slight embankment and through a stream before striking several small trees.

Koehler sustained a minor injury to his leg, troopers said. Koehler said he was reaching for some papers on the floor when he lost control, troopers said.

Both lanes of Route 365 west in the vicinity of the Lawrence Street exit were closed for about a half hour.

Koehler was issued a ticket for speed not reasonable and prudent.Source

A Byron woman died this morning in a fatal accident at the intersection of highways 41 and 49. Cpl. Sean Alexander of the Houston County sheriff's office says the wreck involved a pickup truck and a tractor-trailer.

He said the woman driving the pickup died. She has not yet been identified.

He says charges are expected against the truck driver for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.Source

The exit ramp from Interstate 64 to Jefferson Avenue reopened around noon after being closed for more than seven hours while state police cleaned up after an overturned tractor trailer.Permalink A DHL tractor trailer overturned around 4:45 a.m. as it attempted to exit eastbound I-64 onto the southbound lanes of Jefferson Avenue. The driver appeared to have lost control of his truck and hit the guardrail on the lefthand side of the ramp.

Workers spent much of the morning emptying the trailer's payload in order to set the tractor trailer upright and move it. Once the truck was removed, the crews spent more than two hours working on the damaged guardrail and cleaning up the crash site.Source

According to police, four people were killed in a fiery wreck which occurred Thursday night on a bridge that extends the U.S Mexico border. The accident on the 3.2-mile Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in South Texas affected two tractor trailers and three other cars, according to the sayings of police Lt. Lupe Salinas.

He said that the accident occurred just after 7 p.m. and that the tractor trailers were coming from different directions, the Associated Press reports.

According to Salinas, three people lost their lives after their vehicle has fallen from the bridge and dropped on the other road.

Due to the collision with a tractor trailer another person has died.

Rescuers were searching for other possible victims. Salinas said that the cause of the accident was still being investigated.

The fire was put out, according to Pharr Emergency Management Coordinator Elsa Sanchez, Houston Chronicle informs.

She said that personnel from the cities nearby responded to the call.

It seemed like there were other injuries too, but none of it was life-threatening.

The victims were yet not identified by the police. There was no information regarding their genders, ages or nationalities.

The vehicle that plunged from the bridge was a pickup truck bearing a Texas license plate.

Salinas said that the tractor trailers and the other vehicle, a minivan, had Mexican license plates.

He said: "Right now we're trying to clean up the debris that we have on the bridge, investigate the accident, reconstruct the accident and recover the bodies."

According to spokesman Felix Garza for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the bridge was closed in both ways. Also crossers were being diverted.

Normally the bridge is closed between midnight and 6 a.m. The bridge will be reopened on Friday at 6 a.m.

The structure of the bridge didn’t suffer any damage from the accident, according to the sayings of assistant bridge director, Fred Brouwen.

This bridge is the fourth-largest commercial vehicle in Texas. Every day about 1,700 trucks and 7,000 cars cross it from Mexico to Texas, according to Brouwen.

He said: "This is basically the second accident in the 15 years we've had the bridge."

The bridge has one southbound lane and three northbound lanes.Source

The trucking firm involved in a fatal accident on Highway 82 Tuesday morning violated its operating permit by not displaying lights on the side of the modular trailer it towed, a Colorado State Patrol investigator said Wednesday. Trooper Dennis Gibbons said the truck could legally haul the trailer at night - as long it had proper lighting. In this case, that required lights on each of the four corners that were visible from the sides, as well as one light on each side of the trailer between the corners.

That would have resulted in three lights on each side of the trailer, Gibbons said. The trailer didn't have any lights visible on the sides.

The 1984 Kenworth Truck driven by Mark Chamness, 48, of Littleton, pulled out of a private driveway on the north side of Highway 82, crossed the westbound - or downvalley - lanes, then stopped in the median while waiting to turn left toward Aspen. The truck was delivering a temporary office of the type seen at construction projects. That structure was bound for Buttermilk Ski Area as part of preparations for the ESPN Winter X Games, the state patrol said.

The modular trailer blocked both westbound lanes of Highway 82 while Chamness was stopped and waiting to turn, Gibbons said. A downvalley-bound 2000 Kia Sephia with three passengers slammed into the trailer at about 6:40 a.m. The driver and a passenger in the front were killed at the scene. A passenger in the back survived the crash with serious injuries.
"They just flat never saw the trailer," Gibbons said. Sunrise was at 7:27 a.m. that morning, or about 47 minutes later. At the time of the accident, unlit objects weren't discernible, he said.

And even if the driver did see the trailer, it was too late to react, Gibbons said.

Investigators found no sign that the Kia was braking. The car was traveling at or around the posted 65-mph speed limit, Gibbons said. Speed and alcohol were eliminated as factors in the crash.

There were reports that another vehicle, a "Penske truck," stopped in the right lane for the tractor-trailer. The Kia was in the left lane. The other vehicle wasn't involved in the accident and departed the scene before investigators could interview the driver.

Davidson Industries of Commerce City, owner of the truck in the crash, has declined comment on the accident. The firm held an annual permit for what is called "movement of extra-legal vehicles or loads" from the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Those permits, which are a standard issue, come with numerous rules and regulations. If, for example, the modular trailer being hauled to Buttermilk was wider than 14 feet, it couldn't have been on the road during darkness. Another rule prohibits loads like the modular trailer from being hauled on Highway 82 between Carbondale and Aspen during "rush hours." The prohibition covers from 7 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 6 p.m.

"He probably wasn't going to be in compliance with that, either," Gibbons said. The time required to travel between the Catherine Store area and Buttermilk was likely greater than 20 minutes.

Nancy Shanks, CDOT spokeswoman, said permits can be taken from haulers. However, hearings must be held and some party must initiate the action. An accident doesn't automatically trigger CDOT review of a permit holder.

Chamness received a citation from the state patrol on suspicion of four violations: careless driving causing death, careless driving causing bodily injury, stopping in an intersection when prohibited, and violating a permit by operating during the hours of darkness. He was released after he received the summons. Gibbons said he is completing the paperwork necessary for the 9th Judicial District Attorney's Office to review the case for a decision on filing charges.

One person was killed and three others were injured on Interstate 35 on Thursday night when a tractor-trailer lost two wheels, which slammed into an oncoming car, tearing off its roof. About 9:30 p.m., a northbound Honda Accord was struck by the tires in Bellmead, said Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Jarrod Hubbard. The accident led police to close northbound I-35. Backed-up traffic caused at least one minor accident. Northbound I-35

remained closed at 11 p.m. Thursday.

The Accord’s driver was pronounced dead at the scene by McLennan County Justice of the Peace David Pareya, and three passengers were taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, Hubbard said.

Pareya said one of the three injured was “in more critical condition” than the others. Authorities did not identify those killed and injured.

It was unclear late Thursday whether authorities had located the truck that lost the wheels.Source

A 41-year-old New Hampshire Truck Driver died yesterday in a workplace accident, the police said. The police responded to an emergency call at 9:12 a.m. from Haynes Trucking, a wood chip storage site at 13 Ridge Hill Rd.

The man, identified only as a driver working for Haynes Trucking, became trapped in a large volume of wood chips. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

The police said that the tractor-trailer driver had delivered a load of wood chips to the site. The trailer has a conveyor to help unload the chips.

The chips apparently became stuck and the driver, without turning the conveyor off, climbed into the trailer’s bed trying to dislodge the chips, but sank into the chips, the police said.

Freetown police, the Massachusetts State Police and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health are investigating the incident. Source

The ramp from northbound I-71 to I-75 in Boone County was closed Thursday night due to a multi-vehicle accident involving a tractor-trailer and cars. Artimis Traffic now one lane has now been re-opened.

The semi overturned at the 77-mile marker on the ramp to I-75.

Still no word on how many cars were involved or if there were any injuries.

Traffic is being diverted to southbound I-75 where drivers can take the Walton exit #77 to head back north.Source

The driver of a Dallas tour bus that crashed in eastern Arkansas last year told investigators that he choked on soda and blacked out shortly before losing control of the bus, according to police reports obtained Thursday. But the reports also reveal numerous problems leading up to the Nov. 25 crash that killed four people. They show that the driver had taken amphetamines, falsified work logs and may have been talking on his cellphone shortly before the crash.

They also show that officials with Tornado Bus Co. initially told investigators that the driver didn't speak English but then changed their story when told that would be illegal.

The driver, Felix Tapia of Brownsville, was arrested last week on four counts of negligent homicide.

Tornado, one of the largest bus companies catering to immigrants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was shut down by federal regulators right before Christmas. Government officials say that for several years, Tornado has shown a "flagrant disregard" for hours-of-service limits intended to keep drivers from falling asleep at the wheel.

"The company was overworking him and the other drivers," Sandy Monzon, Mr. Tapia's niece, said Thursday. "If the drivers didn't want to drive where they wanted them to go, they would ground them. They would punish them."

Ms. Monzon denied that her uncle had been taking drugs and said that he told his family he was using weight-loss pills. She added that her uncle doesn't have a cellphone.

A Tornado spokeswoman hasn't returned calls seeking comment since the day after the accident, when the company cut short a news conference after reporters started asking about the company's safety record.

The crash occurred about 10 p.m. on a rural and rain-slicked highway as the bus traveled to Dallas. The bus crossed the median, slammed into a pickup and was broadsided by a tractor-trailer. In addition to the four fatalities, about three dozen other people were hurt.

According to interview notes, Tornado officials told investigators that Mr. Tapia couldn't speak English and would need a translator.

An Arkansas Highway Patrol investigator told them "it was illegal for the company to use a driver who cannot read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the public," the notes said. "Immediately, the company official and driver Tapia stated he could speak and understand English."

Mr. Tapia, 28, had previously given a statement in English that just before the crash he had something in his throat blocking his breathing, and then saw a "black dot." The next thing he knew, he was on the floor.

Investigators have had trouble nailing down the bus's route. Mr. Tapia told investigators that he left Milwaukee about 9 a.m. and stopped in Chicago and outside Memphis. But his driving logs – which are required to be kept by law – showed that he was off duty resting all day in Chicago.

The paperwork also listed a "ghost driver" that made it appear that Tornado was using two drivers, which is typical for long trips. But the Dallas driver listed wasn't on the bus and was off duty in El Paso.

Mr. Tapia told investigators that he thought he was going to have a relief driver and wrote the man's name down only because he knew him. He said he went to pick up the relief driver outside Memphis but no one was there.

The investigator "asked Tapia if the company told him to show a co-driver on his logs and he acted like he did not know what I was saying; so the company official translated to him and they both told me no," the notes said.

Tornado has been fined more than $60,000 for falsifying driving logs and violating hours-of-service rules since 2001.

Mr. Tapia was released from jail after posting bail. If convicted, he faces three to 10 years in jail on each count. Source

With two deadly crashes on roadways in the east valley over the past three days, California Highway Patrol officers are reminding drivers to pay attention on those roads. One crash happened Tuesday when Luis Prieto, 34, slammed his truck into another in front of him on Highway 86.

Prieto died in the crash. The CHP says one of the truck drivers may have ran a red light.

On Thursday, just a few blocks away, a 22-year-old driver identified as Ambrosio Flores of Thermal apparently fell asleep at the wheel while traveling east on Airport Boulevard.

Flores drifted into the opposite lanes of traffic and slammed into a tractor trailer. Flores died on impact, officers say.

Both of the crashes happened on or near Highway 86 - a roadway that has had the reputation of being a "killer" highway.

But despite the history on the roadway, the CHP doesn't believes the area's reputation.

"It's really no dangerous than any other roadway in the Coachella Valley," said Tami Low with the CHP. "We have fatal [accidents] all over our valley."

Still, CHP is making the warning to pay close attention to the roadways.

"In the area, there are a lot of problems with people not paying attention to their driving," says Low. "Because it's pretty rural and people have a tendency to be a little lazy in their driving."

In fact, truckers who frequent the area agree that being alert and well-rested goes a long way.

"If you feel sleepy, you have to get off the road," says trucker Ashot Muradian. "Bottom line is that anytime you operate heavy machinery, you need to pay attention. It can be a deadly weapon." Source

A Sandoval man was killed in an accident on Route 50 at Hahn Road in eastern Clinton County early Tuesday during the heavy rain that moved through the area, according to Illinois State Police. Reports indicate that John Randy Ferguson, 54, of Sandoval, was pronounced dead at the scene by Clinton County Coroner David Moss at 7:13 a.m. Ferguson was westbound when he collided with an eastbound vehicle driven by John B. Clark, 31, of Carlyle.

According to the police report, Clark tried to pass an eastbound tractor-trailer and swerved when he saw the headlights from the oncoming car. Clark swerved to his left into the north ditch in an attempt to avoid the collision, while Ferguson swerved to the right, entering the same ditch. The vehicles then collided in the ditch.

Clark was taken to St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital in Centralia for injuries sustained in the accident, where he was treated and released. Source

Aiken Road is open again following a tractor trailer accident on U.S. 19/23 in Weaverville closed the road earlier today, a N.C. State Highway Patrol dispatcher said. Traffic is still backed up in the area. The N.C. Department of Transportation recommends New Stock Road traffic take New Stock Road south to Business U.S. 19/23 north to Aiken Road. Business U.S. 19/23 traffic should go south on U.S. 19/23, then north on New Stock Road and then go north to Aiken Road.Source

A federal jury this afternoon ruled against an Alabama woman whose husband was killed in a fiery Interstate 75 crash in Campbell County. Kim Shelton, was trying to convince the U.S. District Court jurors that Kentucky businessman Gary Day, whose nephew died in the same explosive collision, should be held responsible for the fatal August 2005 accident.

Shelton's husband, Wade J. Shelton, 38, of Albertville, Ala., died when his 2005 Freightliner tractor-trailer loaded with plastics was struck by an out-of-control 2004 International rig loaded with grain driven by Day's nephew, Edgar Holmes Jr., 52, of Columbia, Ky.

The two rigs, headed in opposite directions, collided at respective speeds of more than 50 mph. Holmes' truck, owned by Day and his trucking company, slammed into Shelton's truck just behind the cab where fuel tanks are located, causing a massive explosion. Both men died.Source

Heavy fog shrouded a central Florida highway early Thursday, forcing crews to stop repairing the road that was the scene of a 70-car accident that killed four people and injured 38 a day earlier. Interstate 4 has been closed since a series of accidents Wednesday morning on the main road connecting Tampa and Orlando. The fog is being blamed for causing the series of crashes that involved cars along 14 miles of the highway.

All the vehicles damaged in the collisions have been removed.

Fires from burning trucks scorched the asphalt and crews worked until about 3:30 a.m. trying to make repairs. By then, more fog forced workers to stop.

"Please don't even try to come here," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told CNN early Thursday. His agency closed numerous roads because of the fog.

Investigators are working with families and medical examiners to identify the dead, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Larry Coggins said. Five people were also seriously injured in the crashes. Their conditions were unknown Thursday morning.

One of the trucks destroyed in the collision and an ensuing blaze was a tractor trailer carrying an estimated 500 pieces of U.S. priority mail. It was next to a fuel tanker that was also hit and burst into flames, U.S. Postal Service spokesman Gary Sawtelle said.

All the packages, which were bound for delivery in central Florida and Miami, were destroyed, he said in a statement.

Officials continue to investigate whether smoke from a brush fire burning near I-4 contributed to the crash. The fire began as a controlled burn, but jumped fire lines and scorched 400 acres.Source

At approximately 8:15 a.m., a tanker truck driving northbound on I-75 lost control at Dearborn Ave. The tank portion of the truck went over the freeway, plunging 30-40 ft. to the ground below and exploding on impact.

The cab of the truck became lodged on the freeway barrier which prevented it from toppling over the edge. The cab continued 200 yards on I-75 North before catching fire, killing the driver. The identity of the driver has not been released pending notification of the family.

Both northbound and southbound lanes of I-75 were closed through the morning. The span of I-75 Northbound, which caught on fire, will remain closed until investigators call it safe to drive on.

When the tank exploded, it shot fire in all directions causing several additional fires to a convenience store, a residential home and a playground.

It is not known at his time why the driver lost control of the vehicle.

The tank was carrying a full tank of a petroleum-based product.Source

Wellington Road 32 closed due to tractor-trailer accident. Early this morning, at 6:28am, Wellington County OPP were called to the scene of a single motor vehicle collision near 5110 Wellington Road 32 in GuelphTownship. Officers A tractor-trailer had driven off the roadway and into the ditch at that location. The fuel tank ruptured in the accident and there was a fuel leak. The Ministry of the Environment is on the scene.

Wellington Road 32 will be closed at the intersections of Wellington Road 124, Fife Road, Paisley Road and Speedvale Avenue off and on all throughout the day as workers attempt to clean up the spill.

Wellington County OPP suggest that motorists use the Hanlon Expressway (Highway 6) as an alternate route to avoid the road closures.Source

The N.C. Highway Patrol is on the scene of a tractor-trailer accident on U.S 19/23 north. The crash was reported about 10:25 a.m. near the 21-milemarker. There were no reported injuries, but the crash is backing up traffic, dispatchers said.

Aiken Road is closed due to the crash, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.Source

A man was killed early Thursday when his snowmobile collided with an 18-wheeler on a Nova Scotia highway. The crash happened at about 4:15 a.m. on Highway 105 at Wagmatcook, near Baddeck.

RCMP said the snowmobile came up out of a ditch and tried to cross the highway in front of the oncoming truck.

Joshua Thomas Peck, 20, of Wagmatcook, was pronounced dead at the scene.

RCMP said the driver of the tractor-trailer was taken to hospital suffering from shock. Source

There's been a tanker truck explosion on I-75 just south of the Rouge River exit, which is south of Detroit. Both northbound and southbound lanes of I-75 are closed and are expected to remain closed through the morning. Source

Prime Inc. has acquired the trucking operations of Pittston, Pa.-based Transcontinental Refrigerated Lines. The TRL freight network will operate as a division of Prime Inc. The acquisition, which included several TRL assets, was finalized in December. TRL’s Pittston facility will function as Prime’s East Coast customer service center.

Prime adds the Pennsylvania location to its locations in California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah.

Stephen P. Hrobuchak Jr. and his father founded TRL Trucking in 1975 as a family-owned trucking company, starting with two trucks. TRL experienced rapid growth as a result in their focus on service and with its customer base.

“We have experienced decreasing profitability these last few years,” said Hrobuchak Jr., former president and CEO of TRL. Faced with escalating operating costs, Hrobuchak said “the best solution for the company and [his] associates was to seek out Prime.”

Prime says it will retain key personnel from TRL. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Source

For the second year in a row, Great American Insurance Group’s Trucking Division is giving away a heavy duty, Class 8 truck in its “Big Rig Giveaway” sweepstakes The 2008 sweepstakes prize, a tricked out Peterbilt 379 Extended Hood, will be given to a trucker chosen at random from Great American’s booth, No. 67200, at the Mid-America Trucking Show on March 29.

This one-of-a-kind Pete will included a uniquely designed paint finish, new interior and upholstery, chromed-out detailing, and electronics including a DVD player, flat screen monitor, blind spot camera, security system, remote controlled electric hood opener, microwave and mini-fridge.

The first "Big Rig Giveaway" drew more than 7,500 participants. The 2007 winner was owner-operator Bruce Doering.

To enter the "Big Rig Giveaway," visit the Great American Trucking website. The contest is open to Class A commercial licensed drivers ages 21 or older. Employees and families of sponsors and vendors are not eligible. No purchase or payment is necessary to enter or win. The winner is responsible for taxes, insurance and all applicable fees. Void where prohibited by law. Source

Just after 8:00am Wednesday, a semi truck slid off Interstate 84 near Wendell partially blocking the two westbound lanes of traffic. No one was injured in the accident. The driver drove his tractor off the road in a controlled slide but the trailer slid around into I-84.

Traffic was blocked for about ten minutes while the tow truck straightened the jackknifed trailer.

Idaho State Police Trooper Oliver Chase said, "That's what blocked the lanes, we needed to block the lanes so that we could pull the trailer straight and get all the lanes open. We did have a partial lane open which we were able to get traffic through the majority of the morning. But we needed to close it down so the tow trucks could get straightened out and get both lanes open again."

In Twin Falls and other Magic Valley communities, work crews did their best to keep the streets clear of snow. In some cases, snow plows and sanding trucks were out overnight. Now, city officials are concerned the snow that melted, could freeze into ice, causing more traffic hazards for drivers. Source

A 71-year-old woman tried to wedge her vehicle between a tractor trailer and a car tonight, causing a three-vehicle accident that injured two people, including herself, while closing 1-95 for about 45 minutes, police said. The accident caused traffic in the southbound lanes of I-95 to back up for about a mile. Some drivers switched off their engines and got out of their cars temporarily.

Delaware State Police said they charged Juana Hernandez of Wilmington with careless driving and unsafe lane change after the 5:50 p.m. crash. Witnesses reported that Hernandez was driving a GMC Sierra in the left lane and tried to enter the center lane ahead of the truck, which was behind a 2004 Mazda MX6, driven by Robert Vanderdecker, 25, of Wilmington, police said.

The SUV struck the Mazda, which then hit another car adjacent to it, a 2007 Toyota Corolla, driven by Usha Sonaji or Newark. The SUV flipped over and landed on the drivers side.

Hernandez was pinned to the ground inside the vehicle after her arm got stuck. An off-duty Wilmington firefighter stopped and used his car jack to elevate the SUV. Hernandez and Vanderdecker were taken to Christiana Hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The accident happened on I-95 south in the area of Frawley Stadium. The SUV blocked traffic in two lanes for 45 minutes. Drivers attempting to enter an on ramp from Wilmington were seen backing onto Maryland Avenue to avoid traffic. Source

Dense fog is being blamed for another traffic death on Monday afternoon. Verdeen Tschirgi, 74, of Elkader, Iowa, died in an accident on U.S. 13 in Clayton County, near Chicken Ridge Road, at about 2:45 p.m., according to the Iowa State Patrol.

At about the same time, dense fog caused a multi-vehicle pileup on U.S. 20 near Epworth, Iowa, which resulted in the death of Scott Nelson, 42, of Guttenberg, Iowa.

Tschirgi is believed to have pulled out from the stop sign at Chicken Ridge Road onto U.S. 13, directly in front of a semi-tractor trailer driven by Steven Krogmann, 59, of Manchester, Iowa, according to the Iowa State Patrol. Tschirgi was transported to the Elkader hospital, but he later died.

The state patrol noted that visibility "was very limited due to dense fog," during the time of the accident. The National Weather Service had issued a dense fog advisory for the area.

Dense fog also was blamed for the accident that claimed the life of Nelson and sent Lance Weipert, of Dubuque, to the hospital. On Tuesday, hospital officials at Mercy Medical Center - Dubuque said they no longer had records of Weipert as a patient.A subsequent accident also was reported on U.S. 20 as a result of the fatal accident, according to an Iowa State Trooper. Three individuals were sent to the hospital with injuries that were assumed to be minor by the state patrol. A dozen fender benders were also reported by various law enforcement officials.

Accidents began occurring in Dubuque County on Sunday related to the fog and continued through Tuesday in Clayton County.

All of the reported injury accidents involving fog in the past three days also have involved semis.

On Tuesday, Clayton County Sheriff's deputy Shawn Boeke reported fog was icing to the roads. This, and low visibility, is believed to be responsible for an accident on Great River Road Tuesday morning, in which a vehicle was unable to slow down for a semi that had turned into the same lane to head in the same direction, according to the Clayton County Sheriff's Department.

The driver of the vehicle that hit the semi, Shannon N. Landt, 23, of Garnavillo, Iowa, was sent to the Memorial Hospital in Prairie Du Chien, Wis., with chest and leg injuries, according to the Sheriff's Department. The hospital would not disclose if Landt was a patient Tuesday night.

At around 8 a.m., a vehicle driven by Landt was unable to slow down for a semi driven by Michael L. Oberbroeckling, 52, of Garnavillo, that had turned from a farm driveway into the same lane as Landt's vehicle.

Landt's car suffered about $12,000 worth of damage and was declared "totaled," according to the Sheriff's Department. Authorities said the semi was hit on its double tires during a sharp right turn and sustained about $5,000 in disabling damage.

On Sunday afternoon, a vehicle collided with a semi in dense fog on U.S. 61, injuring two people, according to the Dubuque County Sheriff's Department. Source

A Connecticut state trooper and a pregnant woman are hospitalized following a collision at the Maine Turnpike’s toll plaza in York.Wednesday, a tractor-trailer rear-ended a southbound vehicle that had stopped to pay a toll.

Maine State Police confirmed that the vehicle -- a Dodge Charger -- was being used by two Connecticut state troopers who were transporting the woman back to Connecticut.

One of the troopers and the prisoner suffered minor injuries.

State police said the driver of the tractor-trailer claimed his brakes failed. He was arrested on an unrelated log violation.

Police said they were unsure whether the truck driver will face charges stemming from the collision. Source

TRENTON, N.J. -- Truckers hauling through various cities in New Jersey will have to be extra careful not to roll through traffic intersections when the light turns red. The legislative session in New Jersey closed this week, but not before a bill authorizing red light cameras was approved by the state Assembly and narrowly passed by the Senate on Monday.

Cameras could start going up in communities around the state within 90 days.

The legislation okays a five-year pilot program that would allow municipalities to install cameras to monitor intersections with a high number of accidents or violations. Municipalities would be required to submit annual reports listing increases or decreases in accidents or violations at the intersections being monitored.

Violators would get tickets through the mail featuring high-res, digital images of their vehicle driving through an intersection when the light is red.

Red light cameras are now used in hundreds of cities across North America, including major centers like Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and several cities in Ontario.

The City of Fredericton recently announced it is seriously considering installing a red light camera system at its busiest intersections as well. Source

A 49 year old Poinciana woman has died as a result of a Tractor trailer vs car accident. It is unrelated to I-4 conditions. Rosemita Lauriston of 2150 Mystic Ring Loop died about 7 a.m. today when she drove her Maroon Nisan Sentra into the back of a Florida Rock Industries tractor/trailer truck on Hatchineha Road, near Tyner Road, said Polk Sheriff's Office spokesman Scott Wilder.

Both the truck, driven by 59-year-old Kenneth McPhail of Bartow, and Laurison were driving west bound. There was fog in the area at the time the crash occurred.

Traffic homicide detectives are investigating the crash.

One passenger in a tractor trailer rollover has died, near Lake of The Woods area in Canada Tuesday night. Two Kenora police officers came upon the accident about 10:30 pm. The tractor trailer apparently went off the roadway into a ditch and ended up on it's top. The accident happened at the Hiway 17 and Hiway 71 junction. The two men were trapped inside and rescued by ambulance and fire personell and transfered to the hospital. One occupant died as a result of the injuries sustained, the other remains in the hospital with serious injuries.

A portion of southbound Route 12 near Route 8 was closed Wednesday after the wind blew over a tractor-trailer full of logs, police said. The state Department of Environmental Conservation was notified of the accident around 9 a.m., but dispatchers said they were unaware of any injuries.

The roadway was closed for a while. Source

Three people died about 11 a.m. Tuesday in a burning van after it struck an 18-wheeler 14 miles north of Freer, police said. Pasadena residents Maria Consuelo Sanchez, 59, Maria Delcarmen Guardiolla, 49, and Juan Guardiolla, 70, were unable to escape the green 2001 Plymouth van as it was engulfed in flames, according to Department of Public Safety reports.

The van was traveling south on U.S. Highway 59 when it veered into the northbound lane colliding with a 2003 Kenworth tractor trailer driven by Mark Zetterstrom. Zetterstrom was not injured, police said.

An identification card was found inside the van that allowed police to contact family of the deceased, according to reports. Justice of the Peace Ben Garza pronounced the three occupants dead at the scene. Source

I know all of you, whether in the USA or not have seen truck drivers.
They are what make the world go around. If it were not for a truck driver, driving all night and day then people would not have anything.
I hear people all the time, laugh and make jokes about truck drivers. But until you have been in a truck drivers shoes, and done a 1/10 of what he or she has done then you need not make any jokes.

Yea, I know the requirements to become a truck driver are not much. All you need to do is be able to speak English, read English, and be able to write in the USA.
Also you must not have a felony record, or be mental.
Training going through truck driving school is easy enough, it only takes 3 weeks, and you are almost guaranteed a CDL license.
It gets very hard after you go through school,believe me. I have heard people say, "But all you do is sit behind the wheel and drive, how hard is that"?

Well let's see here...

You have finally made it through school, and now have been hired with a company.
You report to the company for orientation which will last for up to 5 days, and most company's will only give you maybe $25.00 per day for this. Some company's won't even do this.
Of course the feed you lunch, and put you in a cheap motel, and provide you with a van to take you to the terminal and back to the motel.

The next 5 days you are drilled about company policies, DOT policies, securing your loads, doing the paper work for your company and the DOT. Plus you must within these 5 days also get a physical and DOT drug screen.

Let's say you are lucky enough to get through this part of it.
Now you are officially a hired employee. Guess what?

Nope you are not officially hired, you are a trainee for a prospective company.
This means you get to go out with a driver trainer for as long as he or she thinks you need to go out with them.
Basically you will do all the driving, and do all the paperwork. While the driver trainer sits over in the passenger seat and makes a bookoo of money.

That's right he or she will make allot of money, you will not.
Ok so now you are paired up with a trainer, usually this guy or gal is coming off a break at the house, so he or she is usually running as late as possible.
Trying to get that very last minute with the family.

So you are stuck either waiting at the terminal for he or she to show up, because the company has had you to check out of the cheap motel already.

Well the trainer finally shows up, now when the trainer arrives you learn there is a problem with their truck.
So the trainer reports it to the mechanics, they begin to work on it. You in the mean time are still waiting to get moved into the truck, with all your thing's stacked up around you.
No place to take a nap or sleep as you have been up all day so you are still waiting.

Finally about 4 hours later the truck is finished, now you can finally move your stuff in it.
Guess what? The trainer also has his or her stuff as well. Will it all fit? Yea, but it does not leave much room.

By now it is 2:00 AM in the morning. Do you think you and your trainer is going to pull out of the terminal and go to a truck stop and go to bed?

Nope they got themselves a load that picks up at 6:00 AM.
The trainer will go to bed after they see you drive down the road.

Now you arrive at your pick up point, you wake the trainer up and you proceed to check in with security.

You get to the security office and your trainer has been here a thousand times, but you have not.
Security will make you go through their little check in process, filling out your name, getting a name tag, watching a film,etc.

You get through this process it is now 7:00 am. Remember your load was supposed to be picked up at 6:00 am. You are now 1 hour into your run, and you are not even loaded yet.

Security directs you to the shipping office, you go in there and give them a pick up number, guess what?

It is the wrong number, so now you get to go call your dispatcher, usually there is a phone located in the break room clear on the other side of the building. Yea, I know allot of you have cell phones. Well cell phones are not permitted into allot of places.

You and your trainer walk to the phone, you dial the dispatchers number, and you hold.
Your dispatcher might have to handle 20 or 30 drivers, if they all got the same problem as you well you will be on the phone for a while.

45 minutes later they answer takes them a couple of seconds to give you the right number because maybe all they missed it was by a number.
By the time you walk back to the shipping office it is now 8:00 am or after.

You give the new pick up number, and it works but since you are 2 hours late to pick up, now they will have to try to squeeze you into their loading time.

So you go to your truck and wait until they call you on the CB radio.
Guess what? You have still not gotten to go to bed, you have to sit up in the seat and wait for them to call you.

Finally after about 4 or 5 trucks all of which pulled in behind you get loaded, they call you to park in a loading dock.
Guess what?

Your load is not ready, they tell you to go to sleep and they will wake you when they are finished.

5 hours later they wake you, you are loaded. You sign the paper work and you are off.

Oh yea, you did not get paid anything while you set there from 6:00 am till 1:00 pm.

Now you get to go find a scale to scale your load to make it legal to go down the road. You get to a truck stop, and you get to scale the load out before you can get fuel. If you got fuel first you may not be able to scale the load for legal.

You scale the load, and then you can get fuel..this may take a couple hours depending where you are at.

You have gotten 5 hours of restless sleep, after being up all night and all day the day before.

You can still drive because you are legal to drive for 11 hours. You have only driven 5 hours so far up to scaling the load out to legal.

Now you have finished fueling and now you prepare to start off on your journey.
Get your map out,do your log book and take off.

You can legally drive for 6 more hours, so the trainer has you to head out.
You finally reach your destination, 5.5 hours later your eyes feel like sand paper from lack of sleep, hunger,and you smell from lack of a shower for 2 days.

You basically have to do the same thing when delivering as you did when you had to pick the load up. Check in with security, after there 15 or 20 minute safety chat then you head up to the receiving office, only to find out because you were so late getting there that you must wait.

So again you sit and wait for someone to hollar at you on the CB radio. It may be a few hours, then you finally get to back into a unloading dock.

Now is when the fun begins, you get deal with the dock supervisor who is a real PITA, he has been at work all day and is real frustrated. So for fun he says this load must be palletized of great!

This means that you must go inside the trailer and breakdown the pallets because they are maybe one layer too tall.

Or you can hire a lumper to do it for you, most companies will pay for this as long as you get it authorized first.

Well after 5 or 6 more hours you finally get your load unloaded.
This is probably 12:00 midnight by now and going on 3 days with no sleep,no eat,no shower, and guess what you still have a half hour of driving left to hopefully get into a truck stop and parked.

So off you go, trainer says there is a truck stop up the road a ways head it for there.

Only to pull into it and the lot is almost completely full. You finally find a parking place and get parked, now it is close to 1:00 AM you have to have a shower, get something to eat and try to get some rest.
You are on your first 10 hour break.

Welcome to truck driving buddy, this has been your first load of many to look forward too.

In all reality it is probably not as bad as I described it, but it is not a walk in the park either.

So give them trucker's a break next time one accidentally drifts into your lane, he or she may have been up driving for a long time without rest.

Smoke from an out-of-control brush fire near State Road 33 in Polk County has forced officials to close a 14-mile stretch of Interstate 4 from the Polk Parkway to U.S. 27 near Davenport. Tolls have been suspended in both directions on the Polk Parkway until noon, when Florida Highway Patrol officials will review the situation again.

The Florida Highway Patrol, the Polk County Sheriff's Office and several other agencies are working a 50-vehicle accident in the area, according to various spokespeople. That number includes six cars that are completely burned and 20 tractor trailers, including two that are on fire.

At least three people have died and six have been transported two local hospitals. At least two people were still trapped at 8:30 a.m.

"This visibility situation has been a huge impediment. It’s a tragic situation. So many vehicles involved," said Polk County spokeswoman Cindy Rodriguez. She said they got the first call about 5:45 a.m.

Many things are coming together to make the situation worse, Rodriguez said, including people going to school or work. The closing of I-4 will be an inconvenience throughout the day, she said.

No one knows when the interstate will reopen.

Trooper Larry Coggins of the FHP said troopers are literally walking along the interstate trying to locate accidents because of thick smoke and fog.

Emergency officials said in an interview on Bay News 9 that they have located some accident victims only after hearing them scream.

Two school buses are being used to evacuate people who do not need immediate medical attention.

Visibility is extremely limited because of the smoke from the brush fires in the area. The brushfire began Tuesday as a controlled burn by Fish and Wildlife. But because of the dry condition from drought and recent cold temperatures, the fire quickly got out of control. It went from a 280-acre controlled burn on Tuesday to 430 acres now, Rodriguez said.

Others have said more than 700 acres have burned, including some acres burned as firefighters tried to control the first out-of-control burn.

The fire continues to burn north of the interstate near SR 557. Some of the fire is in the Green Swamp area, which is of particular concern to the Florida Division of Forestry because of extremely low water levels.

Motorists should anticipate alternate routes. Eastbound travelers on I-4 can leave the interstate at Lakeland and follow U.S. 92 east to U.S. 27, then north to the interstate. However, 92 and 27 are clogged at the moment.

Those who are on U.S. 27 can go to U.S. 17, then take 540 into Lakeland.

Smoky conditions are expected to remain for several days. Source

She lost her husband. He lost his nephew.

But it was not a shared grief that bound them Tuesday. It was a lawsuit.

Kim Shelton, an Alabama woman whose husband was killed in a fiery Interstate 75 crash in Campbell County, is trying to convince a U.S. District Court jury this week that Kentucky businessman Gary Day, whose nephew died in the same explosive collision, should be held responsible for the fatal August 2005 accident.Shelton's husband, Wade J. Shelton, 38, of Albertville, Ala., died when his 2005 Freightliner tractor-trailer loaded with plastics was struck by an out-of-control 2004 International rig loaded with grain driven by Day's nephew, Edgar Holmes Jr., 52, of Columbia, Ky.

The two rigs, headed in opposite directions, collided at respective speeds of more than 50 mph. Holmes' truck, owned by Day and his trucking company, slammed into Shelton's truck just behind the cab where fuel tanks are located, causing a massive explosion. Both men died.

On those facts, there is no dispute.

Neither side in this courtroom battle presided over by U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan disagrees that it was a lathe chuck - a massive 220-plus pound machine tool - that somehow wound up in the interstate roadway that led to the fatal crash.

But what pits this pair of grieving survivors against each other is a matter of seconds and a judgment call.

"If (Holmes) had simply applied his brakes and slowed down … we wouldn't be here today," attorney Toby D. Brown told jurors Tuesday in opening statements. "If he had made a right steer, we would not be here today."

"We're here to decide what could have, what should have Mr. Holmes done in three-quarters of a second," Day's attorney, Robert R. Davies, countered. "Was the death of these two gentlemen senseless? Yes. Was it tragic? Yes. Was it Mr. Holmes' fault that lathe chuck rolled out in front of him? Absolutely not."

In this case, that lathe chuck is the star witness, although dueling engineers will try to convince jurors on whose list the machine tool should appear. To understand what it looks like, picture old-school tinker toys. The chuck is a concrete version of the round wooden tinker toy. It was connected to a concrete "spindle," much the same as a skinny wooden peg was inserted into the tinker toy. It is used in various engines.

No one knows how the lathe chuck wound up in the northbound lane of Interstate 75 near mile marker 142 in Campbell County on that August day in 2005. It likely fell from the back of a truck. How long it had been there is hotly debated.

Brown contends the massive concrete wheel and spindle had been in the roadway long enough to come to a rest. Davies insists it had just fallen onto the road and was still rolling when Holmes encountered it.

"He saw it from at least 110 yards," Brown said of Holmes.

According to Brown's expert witnesses, Holmes made a tactical decision to "straddle" the big wheel in the road rather than avoid it, moving four feet to the left to position his rig nearly dead-center over the concrete tool in hopes of driving over it.

Unfortunately, however, the tool's diameter of 15 feet was greater than the axle clearance of just over 10 feet of Holmes' vehicle.

Brown told jurors the impact between the axle and lathe crank destroyed the big rig's steering mechanism. The rig careened across a grassy median and into the northbound lanes, where Shelton desperately began braking his big rig and steering it onto the shoulder of the roadway to avoid the collision, Brown said.

"They have admitted my client was a completely innocent victim," Brown told jurors of Shelton. "He did everything right in braking and moving to the right."

Davies countered that Holmes was just as innocent, responding in a split second to a "sudden emergency."

"After Mr. Holmes struck this item, he lost all control of his vehicle," Brown said. "There was nothing that could be done."

Day is being sued as Holmes' employer, not because he also happened to be the slain trucker's uncle. Shelton's widow is seeking more than $1 million in compensatory damages.

The civil case in U.S. District Court because the accident occurred in Tennessee but those involved were from out of state.

The trial continues today with expert testimony from engineers expected.Source

A bill in the Missouri House would call for trucker-hopefuls to prove they have a firm grasp of the English language to obtain a commercial driver’s license. It is one of several efforts of interest to truck drivers in the Show-Me State.

Well it is about time, I hope that ALL would join in on this!

Will New Mexico be next? The Associated Press has said that New Mexico is eying the new non idle law that California has just started using, for trucks weighing more than 16001 lbs. Florida, Minnesota and Colorado have also moved to join the band wagon in efforts to lesson the green house effects they say truck idling is harming.

Before you know it trucks will no longer be able to idle anywhere in the USA.

Truck drivers,owners, and companies based in California can be denied registration ,renewals, and transfers if they have been cited idling for more than 5 minutes. California began enforcing Jan. 1 2008 a new idling limit that no longer exempts sleeper-berth time, though it does exempt idling of trucks carrying temperature-dependent loads, performing safety or maintenance checks and “to prevent a health emergency.”

The state can deny registrations, renewals, and transfers until the citation has been cleared.

Karen Caesar, a spokeswoman for the California Air Resources Board has stated that the local police have been giving the authority to write citations for idiling for more than 5 minutes.

This could really hurt truck drivers, owners, and companies if the citation were to fall on or around the same time as their registration does. Because how long will it take for the court to clear it?

Amber Alert

Friday, January 25, 2008

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Monday, January 21, 2008

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Friday, January 18, 2008

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Monday, January 14, 2008

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Friday, January 11, 2008

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Wednesday, January 9, 2008