Another USA Trucker fatality crash in my county

[rcso]

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories...t_100168.shtml
Mother, child die in wreck
Twin brother in fair condition
By Jeremy Craig| Staff Writer
Thursday, October 12, 2006

A young Waynesboro mother and her 3-year-old daughter were killed in a Wednesday afternoon tractor-trailer wreck on Mike Padgett Highway, authorities said.

Richmond County Deputy Coroner Charlena Graham said Julie Dorn-George, 26, and her daughter, Breanna George, died in the accident in the 4100 block of Mike Padgett Highway, near International Paper.

An autopsy will be performed today at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab in Augusta, Ms. Graham said.

Breanna's twin brother, Barton, was rushed to Medical College of Georgia Hospital, police said.

A hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday night that Barton was listed in fair condition.

The wreck happened after 1 p.m., said sheriff's Capt. Jim Griffin, head of the sheriff's office's south precinct.

Thomas Lattimore, 37, of Ohio, was driving north on Mike Padgett Highway and had picked up a load from Federal Paperboard when he pulled over to the right in what Capt. Griffin called an "acceleration lane" to look at a map.

Mrs. Dorn-George, who was driving a Chevrolet Astro van, apparently drifted into the acceleration lane, ramming the back of Mr. Lattimore's tractor-trailer, the captain said.

The entire front of the van was crushed, jammed underneath the back of the rig.

There were no skidmarks on the ground that would indicate that Mrs. Dorn-George had time to apply the brakes, the captain said.

Capt. Griffin said Mr. Lattimore was charged with improper stopping in a road.

"The lane is established as an acceleration lane, and is intended for large vehicles to get enough speed to get up the hill," Capt. Griffin said. "It is not a shoulder."

"He had no justifiable reason to stop there."

Mr. Lattimore was shaken by the accident.

"I won't be right from this anymore," he said. "Just to see that kid put on the ambulance, that ... did it."

Further charges are pending, Capt. Griffin said.

Reach Jeremy Craig at (706) 823-3409 or jeremy.craig@augustachronicle.com.

From the Thursday, October 12, 2006 edition of the Augusta Chronicle



He's also being charged with 2 counts of vehiclular homicide.

[ken_o]

r you implying this is another wreck for usa trucking out of van buren ark. if it is they hav a sht ld of prblms ths year whats the limit on deaths ths year for them 10, 20, 30.

[yoopr]

I'd steer clear of that Scale at Van Buren for awhile. Not the place to be.

[ken_o]

i get nervous driving by their in a pickup let alone a semi.
http://www.wrdw.com/traffic/4383241.html
looks like thomas needs to pull his pants up.
loks like he will also only be charged with stopping violation for now

[Jason607]

So, the driver of the van failed to controll her vehicle and ran into the truck. I wonder what she was on or doing that she drifed off her lane. Maby he should not have stopped in the lane because it was an acceleration lane, but then again she should have not been driving in it. She hit the truck. Both at fault.

[emerlin]

Sounds like another case of a stupid, distracted 4-wheeler driver to me. I wonder how well marked the "acceleration lane" was. Were there any "no parking" signs there? What's there to distinguish it from a shoulder?

How many of us has stopped to check a map in an unfamiliar area just to make sure we don't miss our exit?

[Mars]

As tragic as this may be but;

Female+mini van+kids= soccer mom looking back to check on the kid, and not watching the road in front of her., especially with no skid marks.

Whatever happened to hitting someone from behind is not the fault of the person that was hit, but the fault of the person that rear ended the lead vehicle. That is a charge of "not having care and control" or if speeding was involved then it becomes careless driving.

I have a long time female friend whos father is an O/O and he told me a story of him having to ditch his T/T into the right hand ditch as a female in a car crossed over into his lane and was comming head on with him, due to her bent around and fiddling with the kids in the back seat.

[rcso]

I heard of a company driver that works for my company (well did at the time don't know if they still do) that was at an interstate exit intersection around Dallas, right near our OC. He was on the access road. a collision on the interstate roadway went offroad and struck his truck on the access road. Someone died in the whole thing. He had nothing to do with the accident. Him/the company was sued because he couldn't prove he was sitting in the OC for 10 hrs (the break) either because the qualcomm wasn't tracking right, or he forgot to update his logs. Either way, that wreck cost my company a lot of money. So as you can see stranger things can happen


Now back to USA trucker. He was parked (standing) on a roadway. He didn't have triangles out, a fatality wreck occured. Why 'would you not' think he would be charged and or at fault for at least improper parking and vehicular homicide?


Very simply while violating one of GA title 40 codes he caused the death of another individual. In my state (state of occurance) that is vehicular homicide. The only thing after that to go over is the severity as it relates to each particular case.


He may not be charged in 'this' case, as I think most truly believe it was indeed an 'accident', that doesn't mean he couldn't be. I'm sure if his logs were messed up or he was illegal with dot somehow he would be hammered with it, especially in that court.

[Krzysztof]

Now back to USA trucker. He was parked (standing) on a roadway. He didn't have triangles out, a fatality wreck occured. Why 'would you not' think he would be charged and or at fault for at least improper parking and vehicular homicide?

If I'm not mistaken unless you're going to sit for less than 10 minutes you aren't required to put out your triangles per FMCSR correct? And when's the last time you looked at a map just to make sure you're goin in the right direction that took you more than 10 minutes?

[rcso]

That's the point, what's/who is to prove he wasn't there more than 10 minutes, and to answer your question, I'm quite astute at writing good directions down before I go to bed the following night, but yes; there have been a few times I went the wrong way, and had to find a 'safe' place to pull over. Usually that entailed me going into a parking lot, NOT in the middle of the ROADWAY. Remember he wasn't on the shoulder, he was in the middle of the paved and marked roadway.

[BanditsCousin]

I think I read what you are referring to (about the driver in the road).

Nonetheless, the mother ran into the truck because she wasn't watching where she was going. Could have driven off the road for all we know, but I do remember the report/article saying there weren't even skidmarks. If It was a pedestrian, the person would have been killed instantly :shock:

[yellowcabbill]

This is really sad. But points to people not watching what is going on. I have investigated accidents for more then 20 years in my taxicab business with 90 plus vehicles and in California when you rear end the vehicle in front of you, hardly ever is the vehicle you rear ended at fault for the accident. The trucker was wrong for stopping in an area not authorized for stopping, but poor minivan mom was more wrong for hitting a stationary vehicle with its four ways on. To add another demension-- what if that truck was stopped there, with four ways on because of a break down?? Who the blame be clear in that situation?

[rcso]

This is really sad. But points to people not watching what is going on. I have investigated accidents for more then 20 years in my taxicab business with 90 plus vehicles and in California when you rear end the vehicle in front of you, hardly ever is the vehicle you rear ended at fault for the accident. The trucker was wrong for stopping in an area not authorized for stopping, but poor minivan mom was more wrong for hitting a stationary vehicle with its four ways on. To add another demension-- what if that truck was stopped there, with four ways on because of a break down?? Who the blame be clear in that situation?

If they guy isn't being charged with anything serious, then my guess would be nothing would have happened to him if his triangles were out. I know we wouldn't have faulted him for it, and since he isn't being charged with the more serious crime I can only guess all his logs are ok.

[Fozzy]

I'm pretty sure that the "ten minutes" rule applies to vehicles on the shoulder, not vehicles stopped/PARKED mysteriously in the traffic lanes. The driver was a dummy for doing this, now he's a dummy who basically killed some people because he was to much in a hurry to look at a freakin map? This is one of those cases where the driver is wrong because had he not been doing something so predictable stupid, the accident would never have happened to him, the woman and his company. Companies are closed down over accidents like this.

[Lunker]

This is one of those cases where the driver is wrong because had he not been doing something so predictable stupid, the accident would never have happened to him, the woman and his company.

And let's just suppose that truck wasn't there, she would have continued off the road and killed everyone in the vehicle anyway? Or she would have drifted off into the burm and over corrected and take out some other cars? Or rear end another vehicle slowing down for traffic ahead?
For this lady to rear end a STOPPED big rig, only points to one fact period - she was not paying attention. To blame the truck driver for someone else's inability to maintain the number one rule in driving of "watching ahead" is really absurd.

And then I realize this post is over a month old - geez, not a very active forum!

[Cluggy619]

Here is the problem. He was in a truck, it was his fault. That's it. As the story read:

Thomas Lattimore, 37, of Ohio, was driving north on Mike Padgett Highway and had picked up a load from Federal Paperboard when he pulled over to the right in what Capt. Griffin called an "acceleration lane" to look at a map.

Hmmm...pulls over to the right, and that's where the "acceleration lane" is? On the right hand side? Where in this country is this?

Bull*****. The cop blamed him because he was in a rig. The driver pulled over on what he thought was a shoulder...who in the heck puts a "acceleration lane" on the right hand side of the road?

The only thing he did was to stop, but their was no attempt involved...he didn't drive the mini van, he didn't kill the people inside.

There were no skid marks on the ground that would indicate that Mrs. Dorn-George had time to apply the brakes, the captain said.

Hey, what if she did see the truck? Suicide, perhaps? Her death is clearly her fault, she hit him.

I hope he gets a good lawyer.

[rcso]

Hmm, I'll help you out there. See the lane right above the word 'Washington Road' on the bottom right hand corner of the following diagram, that is an acceleration lane. "On Ramps" and "Off Ramps" are acceleration lanes, That little lane that says merge left or right when you turn from one road onto another, hey boss guess what you just went through an acceleration lane. Maybe you are just confused on what is being talked about, I hope so and I hope I helped explain this to you; I'd hate to think what the alternative is.

[Cluggy619]

thanks. for clearing it up......however, if a car was parked their, and a truck hit it, it would still be the truck drivers fault.....

:evil:

[cdltpx]

There are so many lives that can be saved by having a little technology in your possession there are expenses involved but well worth it just to know where you are at all times. Some of you will say you’re a professional you are suppose to keep track of your position at all times, true but in heavy fog/rain I use GPS to keep track of regularly used curvy roads. What about areas where tornado, hurricane or vandals blow signs away directions that were accurate for years are now wrong? If you are like me you do a lot of night driving when most of the drivers are in bed no amount of light can help in some cases. There are good Garmin GPS units for less than $200 wal mart right now fully loaded map of USA units less than $300.Shop around you can get cheaper but have found my older hand held garmin to stand up to truck tourture.
You have to think of the worse case scenario at all times you are the professional and YOU will be held ultimately responsible. The thing is this is this short cut worth another’s life or me becoming a felon just because of poor planning.

One day we will get coordinates for a location along with directions to get a best picture of where to go. My business is going to well established locations and we will be compiling a database of tank locations along with GPS coordinates my hope is that sales men/customers will get coordinates and share them with us along with their directions the day of a trucker getting lost should be long gone but stupidity prevails over ignorance until we cure the stupidity we will never prevent ignorance. Stupid is knowing what to do and doing otherwise ignorance is not knowing of the facts get the facts please.