Flaming Idiot Drives Truck into Bridge

[catcul]

Yesterday, I was driving home from the office. Suddenly, traffic comes quite literally to a screeching halt. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid an accident. When I was finally stopped, I saw two cars on the side of the road. It was obvious that one hit the other by the way both drivers looked at the vehicles. Since there was no damage, they both tried to go their merry ways. I said tried, because the traffic was pretty much at a standstill.

When I looked ahead, I saw smoke starting to build up. Then I saw flames shooting up under a bridge. Traffic had to part to let the emergency vehicles to respond to the accident ahead. In the 2½ I was stuck there, I saw cars U-turn both on the left shoulder and the avenue created by cars pulled off both sides of the road.

I read about the aftermath of the accident. Apparently, the driver of an 18-wheeler hauling baby formula blacked out and slammed into a bridge support, overturned the truck, and escaped the truck with minor injuries. He is now facing a reckless driving charge. The bridge he hit is closed to traffic until our state's DOT determines it's safe.

[Monterey Jack]

How is this guy a "flaming idiot" if he blacked out prior to hitting the bridge? Or am I reading that incorrectly?

[catcul]

How is this guy a "flaming idiot" if he blacked out prior to hitting the bridge? Or am I reading that incorrectly?

If you know you have a medical condition that might cause you to black out, you need to be extra careful behind the wheel. I was not happy I had to wait 2½ before I could head home.

[dendawg]

Not to be a FTSTS, but has it been established that he knew about his condition or was this a first time occurrence?

[catcul]

He told the cops that he had a medical condition.

[Chromatix]

Echoes of the Glasgow bin lorry, then.

Same circumstances: driver with known history of blacking out, hid his condition from his employers (a bus company before he switched to bin lorries), with inevitable results. In that case, IIRC, six pedestrians died.

[flyonthewall]

http://www.wxii12.com/news/tractortr...ounty/35289620

From what I gather, the driver knew he had a medical condition before.

[Monterey Jack]

He told the cops that he had a medical condition.

Well, then...if he had a documented medical history of blacking out, and still decided to make a living driving a truck, then yes, he is a flaming idiot.

[OneMoreTime]

What is a FTSTS?

[Aragarthiel]

Well, then...if he had a documented medical history of blacking out, and still decided to make a living driving a truck, then yes, he is a flaming idiot.

That's a bit unfair. It really depends on the medical condition and how well it's controlled. Any good trucking company would make sure their drivers were well enough to drive, and while managing an illness is more difficult when truck driving, it can happen. Diabetes, for one, can cause blackouts, but if you're equipped for it (crock pot for cooking instead of always eating fast food, mini fridge for insulin if needed, etc.) it's actually one of the easier illnesses to live with on the road. It's difficult to say without knowing what condition he had, how well it was controlled, and what had happened that day (did he have time to eat/sleep/take meds/was he stressed about something/etc.) whether or not what was otherwise a medical emergency was his own fault.

I say this because my family is full of truck drivers, and my father-in-law is one as well (he actually has several conditions that have to be well-controlled for him to be on the road, and he successfully manages every one of them). Everyone's quick to blame the driver but if your load was supposed to be 100 miles away half an hour ago, you can either stop and take care of yourself and likely get fired, or keep going and keep the job. It's unfair, but that's what this whole site is about.

[Sunshine]

Ftsts is failing to see the suck.