Tanker Crash Creates Major Jam in Wichita
Posted on March 12, 2008
Filed Under HOURS OF SERVICE, IN THE NEWS
In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 11, a Groendyke Transport tanker truck hit a bridge abutment, flipping his trailer over the railing onto the roadway below. The driver sustained minor injuries. The highways were shutdown nearly all day while cleanup crews pumped off the 8,000 gallons of butane into another tank.
Check out the video at the link. It is being reported that the driver fell asleep. The Groendyke official stated the driver had only been on-duty 6 or 7 hours at the time of the crash. Fatigue can strike at any time, not just when you are at or over your 14 hour shift. Any company with any brains at all will encourage its drivers to PULL OVER if they feel too ill or sleepy to continue. Sometimes just getting a 20 minute nap can refresh a driver, and make him able to continue safely. It is not uncommon to see fatigue related accidents occurring at the beginning or in the middle of a driver’s work shift.
Many drivers are embarrassed to call a dispatcher and say, “I don’t feel well, or I’m falling asleep at the wheel, I need to pull over for an hour”, when they’ve only been on-duty for a few hours. You’ll be more embarrassed if your trailer ends up in a ditch.
A note on these truck accident stories: Some of you probably think that’s all I post is truck wrecks. Well, I try to make a safety point with the wrecks, not just posting them for fun. I think they’re a little more interesting than just talking about the ins-and-outs of filling out a driver vehicle inspection report, or a logbook. Besides, it’s hard coming up with new material every week.
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