" . . but knew he would not have time to stop completely."

Looks to me like he found time.

Excellent analysis, Mr. Ford but I'm still skeptical. You're thinking whatever impact NAPA had prior to taking the tiger in the tail collapsed his trailer? I ain't insinuatin' nuthin' . . I have zero experience with these matters.

To be fair, I'm pushing into the nieghborhood of 700,000 safe (for me, at least) miles. I have yet to witness a truck on truck crash, and very few car crashes for that matter. I've seen the aftermath of a few but . . knock on wood . . can offer no first hand accounts.

Hobo nails it on speed analysis. I am truly lower 48, irregular route OTR. I'm everywhere and when I get there I tend to regionalize, for awhile. As you (noob viewers/wannabes) might expect, you get a little familiar with some of the regional fleets and how the heck are you going to forget a Tiger trrruck? I'm forever checking the median because I figure they must have a terminal there. Right lane? Off limits.

Stan . . I was there (Loves, Toms Brook) at 0115, this morning. Wanted to swing in, grab a cup of coffee and go. Didn't happen. The fuel island was jammed and all the short term "special needs" spots were double and triple parked.

 

No cd, I'm saying that when the Napa truck was hit by the Tiger truck, it folded the Napa trailer in half and he may have just started to go under the trailer, ie: it started to ride up onto the hood. When the Tiger truck got rear-ended by the next truck in line, it shoved him on under the trailer even further. As far as the windshield breaking, it can be broken rather easy even in a very low speed wreck. Those low speed wrecks have some energy behind them that you don't expect. That of course is assuming it was 5-10 seconds before the next truck piled in. If it was only a second later(meaning the following truck was way too close for the conditions) then that was probably when the windshield actually broke but Sojak would think it was from the initial impact. Personally, I think the windshield didn't break until he was shoved under the trailer further, not by the initial impact.

 

CD...I pulled out of Tom's Brook, about the time that the frustrated masses hung up by that closure hit Tom's. I stopped in there about 4...left out about 4:45 and the road went from moderate traffic to Idiot traffic in minutes.

 

Gutcha. But that just goes back to my original highly speculative conclusion . . and I assert ZERO expertise, here . . he was only going fast enough to fold the NAPA trailer? I'm no engineer and I am somewhat familiar with the chaotic nature of force dynamics, especially in an uncontrolled environment. Either he found a particularly peculiar vulnerability in that trailer or maybe NAPA was a late braker and got the trailer hopping? It looks like NAPA's left drives are off the pavement, maybe that got (I'm guessing) his right tandems up in the air? Unless it was Tiger who put him there. It still doesn't change my view that Sojak was somewhat insincere in his telling of events. matcat did a panic stop from 55 and lost his front end back to the radiator with no damage to the target trailer. Different deal, I know.

Getting back to Hobo's comment about the squall . . I've seen my share and I can't recall that I've ever seen one fall like a net. It's hard to draw a conclusion from the pic with the wrecker but it doesn't appear that NAPA hit anything. I have to believe that everyone saw it coming but not everyone reacted appropriately.

 

Pic . .

Photo Detail|ABC24-CW30 Eyewitness News | Memphis, TN

Story . .

3 Year-Old Critical, 2 Others Hurt in Wreck on I-40|ABC24-CW30 Eyewitness News | Memphis, TN

The story offers no explanation for the initial crash . . hope this kid is made of rubber. It isn't hard to imagine why the second crash occurred . . perfect weather and no mention of a slick road.

 

Mabe one day it'll sink in. There are always accedents on I-81, I think ppl don't use thier head on this road.