EL CAJON, Calif. — The driver of a semi hauling large beams on a flatbed died Tuesday afternoon after one of the beams crashed through the cab and impaled them.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the blue, single-cab Peterbilt stopped in the number one lane of Interstate 8 just before 3 p.m. in East County.
The driver was not named, and there were no other vehicles involved in the incident. CHP didn’t say what made the load shift, and the investigation is ongoing.
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Unfortunately I was right behind the driver he hit his brakes real hard to avoid a truck that went from the slow lane into the fast lane with no momentum
Thats what happens when, one rush…rush… to get.no were.. ending up killing someone. One of the reasons i am.leaving trucking, to many irresponsible so called drivers out there
The small car driver are crazy in front of big truck, they no show any respect
Approximately 45 years ago I had just finished a grave yard shift while working at a surface mine in Michigan. We were required to watch a safety film before we could leave. There was a scene in the film that showed a truck driver that had been impaled by a load of iron pipe that he was hauling. Gruesome does not even describe what I saw that morning. Needless to say that it gave me nightmares. The first responders must have had a tough time dealing with stuff like this.
I think i saw the.same driver safety film, brother, just about 30 years ago. 😳 it is something you cant get of ones mind for.sure..
Again are so many people pretending to be a trucker,behind the wheel, is not eve lack of training, it is irresponsibility, careless,selfishness,rage, they bring all that junk from the years driving a 4wheller,and continue to apply on commercial driving, take for.exemple most.of those who drives a 6 wheelers, they are careless, rude, selfish, unprofessional people. Those imbecile people who drives a hotshot are the worse. Causing trouble where they’re are. Specially on east coast. Drivers need to care for each other. Like was 30/40 years ago. We are prejudiced and abused because they know, the industry know. They always will have someone to take a refused cheap load for less and less. Even if the driver.lose money..
There is a reason for the bulkhead. If you’re hauling a flatbed you need to have a bulkhead on the trailer and the truck, esp the truck. Not pointing fingers but the driver should have known better to take a load without one. Then again the company he worked for should have had the truck outfitted properly.
This is the fault of all parties involved. The dipshit that cut him off, and the company who allowed him to drive without it. Shame that a drive has to lose his life due to the ignorance of another.
Sometimes we have no choice, bulkhead isnt available on every flat bed. And it.doesnt.much anyway, as a courteen/ flat bed driver i guarantee you that. Bulkhead will.not stop any load. Nor a dry van or reefer. That thin piece of aluminum is just for show. Ive seen reebar pierce thru it as.if it was paper. As well coils run it out as if it wasnt there..
Botton line is no safe way to.safe haull any.load. we.do our best.not.to.get killed
An aluminum headache rack will do nothing to stop steel, steel beams would go through it like swiss cheese!
Having run flatbeds for many years, it is also up to the driver to protect himself, he could have used chains in front of load to stop this !
It wouldn do any good. You may chain it up cross strap it. The motion will brake it as if it was a.piece of thing line, .
Is no way to.haull anything and be 100% sure of it securement, not in any type of trailer.. everything is unsafe. You hit that brake little hard. Hell gets lose. Luckily one doesnt get hurt.. trucking is the.most dangerous and deadly profession out here. And the.most abused and under cared for
The problem in the trucking industry today is ” THERE ARE NO QUALIFIED EXPERIENCED TRUCK DRIVERS. ALL YOU HAVE OUT HERE NOW IS STEERING WHEEL HOLDERS WHO THINK THEY CAN LEARN TO DRIVE A COMMERCIAL VEHICLE FROM AN APP. MOST ARE TOO CONCERNED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA AND 99 % CAN ONLY DRIVE AUTOMATICS. REAL TRUCK DRIVERS CAN DRIVE A STICKSHIFT AS WELL AS AN AUTOMATIC. REAL TRUCK DRIVERS, LIKE MYSELF, DO NOT NEED SOCIAL MEDIA AND FACETIME AND FACEBOOK AND DATING APPS TO DRIVE A TRUCK. ” !!! I own my own trucking business, I have 15 trucks, and have been in trucking 25 years. Believe me, I can spot a truck driver just talking to them. A steering wheel holder is a dime a dozen and these young bucks think they know it all and they don’t listen to their boss. I have forgotten more than they will ever learn.
I have to strongly disagree. There are a lot of great drivers out there. My husband is one. He doesn’t use social media, FaceTime or dating apps. He’s one of the most responsible out there. He was an over the road team driver for years and now he’s local. Saying that there aren’t any good drivers out there just isn’t true. You and your drivers aren’t the only responsible drivers, come on now. 😉
Hello. My dad’s brother died this same way with a little difference.
It was Nov 1951. It was my uncle’s birthday. It was in Indiana. We/he lived here in Ohio.
He drove an old early mid 50’s Dodge cab over.
A truck pulled out in front of him. He couldn’t stop. He slammed into the back of the other truck. His load slid thru the back of the cab.
The other truck left the scene never to be seen again.
No one saw it happen or at least never came forward but we know someone went thru his truck with his lifeless body sitting there. Things were missing that were always there including a revolver he kept in the dash glove box.
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Okay I’m actually a current Flat Bed division driver manager of a trucking company. The 1st thing I teach drivers is proper load securement. I’m sure some of the chains may have broke but it looks like he may not have had enough chains and/or didn’t place them properly, or possibly didn’t tighten them enough with the binders. 2nd thing I teach is try to give yourself enough room/space in front of you so you don’t have to brake hard or swerve to avoid contact with another vehicle. (which is hard to do in today traffic). I can’t tell if those are solid bars or hollow pipes. That would determine how many chains to use and where to place them. I only see 4 chains and looks like one broke I can’t tell. Some times the wood used to place the cargo on sometimes cracks or breaks. This would cause the pipes/bars to become loose and not secured. I hate to say this but most of the time this happens it’s the most likely the drivers fault. A properly secured load driven in the right manner should not shift like that. I’m very sorry to hear about the driver.