Second victim pulled from Colfax big rig wreckage
The body of a second man was found underneath debris Tuesday morning at the accident site of a big rig rollover near Colfax Monday, officials reported. The man, whose name is not being released pending notification of his family, was reportedly a passenger in the big rig, which rolled into a guard rail spilling its load of recylced plastic down the embankment near the Magra Road exit on westbound Interstate 80, California Highway Patrol offi-cials reported. The driver, who was trapped inside of the truck’s cab and was also killed in the accident, was re-portedly going 70 mph and passing another truck in the fast lane when he lost control and slid down an embankment, said CHP Officer Rich Ruiz. “This morning, as the investigator was going over log books, (it was) determined there was possi-bly a co-driver involved,” Ruiz said. Ruiz said investigators also have video footage of the accident, recorded by a device on a Wal-Mart truck, which the driver of the big rig was passing at the time of the accident. “The driver of the WalMart truck was doing 55 mph, so we estimate the driver (of the big rig) was going 70 mph when he approached a curve and lost control. You see in the video the trailer starts to fishtail. When the driver tries to correct, he is sent over the guardrail.” Battalion Chief Jeff Brand of Cal Fire said crews located the co-driver under the debris and extri-cated him this morning. Brand said when the truck was overturned, the cab was torn off and wedged beneath the contents of the trailer and the trailer itself. All westbound lanes were closed as a result of the accident, which occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. All lanes were opened by approximately 7:45 p.m., California Highway Patrol officials said. Ruiz said the driver of big rig had only had his license for nine days. The Journal’s Jenna Nielsen can be reached at jennan@goldcountrymedia.com or comment on this story at auburnjournal.com.
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Those trucks sure haul down the grade. It's amazing there aren't more accidents.
The comment that the driver only had his license for nine days is too vague. Did he just renew it or? In addition that driver like so many others drive too dam fast. What ever happened to the speed limits. CHP needs to site more speeders and I think the state should pass a regulation that any government employee who gets sited for speeding can be fired. The state of California should try to set a president as a leader. In addition any company employee that is driving a company vehicle and gets sited should be fired by the company. Speed is the factor in most accidents as well as a horrible waste of gas and one of the main causes of stress.
Potato
Potato,
i don't think its vague, the driver of the big rig just got his big rig drivers license(classB?) 9 days ago.
Potato, there was no mention of any governmental employee involved. Why should someone lose their job over an infraction?
Other states don't let big rigs pass at all in the mountains, it would save a lot of lifes if that law was applied to our 2 lane (each way) mountain roads.
Natural Selection scores again! Too bad his sleeping buddy had to go with him. That kind of speed at that point on I-80 for a truck is insane. Probably his first drive through the area. Any sensible old-timer would have slowed it down at that point - like the WalMart guy taking pictures.
I returned from Tahoe last night after dark (Tuesday evening) and saw the crash site. The bend in the road that's just before this spot has an electronic sign that not only tells you to slow down to 55 MPH, but it also shows your speed via radar. Most of us understand that when you see one of those signs you'd better slow down! Too bad for both those dudes. This was a completely avoidable accident!
I am a commerical driver and drive this area twice a night and have driven it for many years. This is not the first time this type of accident has happened there. There is one every month or so in that area! True there are signs marking most grades and this is the only one where there is a lighted sign. The sign is located right as you go into the turn which to me is too late for a big rig to slow down enough. The radar in the sign has not worked in over a year, so it does not show your speed, even when it does not many pay attention to it or any other signs on the hill. I see cars going into the turn at 70 to 80 mph and some trucks doing better than 60. I think the sign needs to be at the top of the hill and changed to 50mph for everyone! Fix the radar and put a camera in it and send tickets in the mail for anyone doing over 55mph, like the red light cameras! The CHP also needs to enforce the manditory brake check area at Blue Canyon better. I stop every morning and I'm empty. I only see about 3 out of about every 10 trucks stopping. This is a manditory stop. "All trucks must stop", It's like running though an open truck scales when you don't stop! and should be enforced better! A few heffy fines and word will get around. The stop gives you a chance to get out, figure out where you are and what your doing. As far as a "no passing in mountain areas", that would not work on Donner Pass! There are too many really slow trucks and too many scared drivers going really slow you'd have traffic backed up to Sacramento and Reno by doing that, just look when chain control is up at how much traffic backs up. That also would cause most accidents. The speed limit needs to be 55mph for everyone, cars included! I know several CHP officers up there and they have told me they clock some cars at over 100mph up there. I think that should be a trip to jail for those, no exception! There are also too many drivers with no experience driving in areas they should not, cars included. My company use to require 5yrs experience to go up the hill, but now they just send anyone which really makes me mad. We've already had one driver get in a minor accident and two others get tickets because they don't pay attention to where they are and don't know how to drive in mountian areas. Even though it's law that companies must have training for drivers most do not train anyone! They just turn them out on the road cause they have a load that has to go and be there now! This scares the hell out of me to drive with some of these guys out there! Any company caught sending drivers out with little or no experience should face really big fines! Companies paying drivers by the mile should be banned totally. All drivers should be hourly, period! Especially since that's how we are regulated, by logs and computers and hours of service. I know way too many drivers who have to go, go, go to make money and get the load there. The more miles they drive, the less sleep they get, the more money they make, so they drive faster and longer to get more miles. Do you blame them for pushing it to the limit? Most drivers do not get the rest they need to drive an 80,000 pound rig down the road!
I could go on and on, but I have to hit the road now. Drive safe, I want to go home at the end of my day!