Once again, I apologize for this lengthy post, but it could potentially save a life (or lives) one day. Please read and make note of the link included herein. Actually, it wouldn't hurt to store this information in your phone!
Last week we were not far from home on our way to visit friends at their lake house. We were behind a fully-loaded gravel hauler on a 2-lane road in the country. Not long after taking off from a light, we noticed the hauler cross over the yellow line. OK, maybe just a careless moment. A few seconds later, he went over the yellow line, again. THEN, he began DRIVING IN THE LANE OF THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC for quite a distance, then shifting back to his lane, then back to the shoulder where he drove for some distance, again! This went on for 7 solid miles (down this one road, alone) while vehicles in the oncoming lane had to hit the shoulder to avoid a head-on collision. I was driving our vehicle and was screaming and crying the entire time while my husband had 911 on the phone relaying our location all the while. It was the most scary thing I have ever experienced as I tried to prepare myself for multiple fatalities right before our very eyes! We got to the red light in the next town and noticed that this hauler was easing backwards. My husband started hollering for me to back up. Thank God no one was behind us, so I did. Then, we followed him down the freeway (headed east, just west of Houston). Again, all over the road. At one point, a tanker truck was coming up beside us and this hauler drifted half way into his lane! Needless to say, the tanker driver had to steer toward the guardrail to avoid a horrendous accident which could have easily included US! Because we were driving through different territorial jurisdictions, no safety officers were able to catch up with us. After exiting the freeway and crossing over the overpass, the hauler still could not stay in his lane. The hauler eventually ended up at a cement plant in Katy where we remained, observing him until the local Police showed up. Again, not in their jurisdiction, but the officer DID run a check on his drivers license, questioned him, gave him the walking sobriety test, etc. The guy did not seem under the influence, but the officer said he appeared to be fatigued and there was some "tobacco"-type substance on the floorboard. Long story short, there was nothing DPS, Katy PD, or anyone else could do, it seemed. BUT, the officer did give us a website I want to share with all of you. Using my phone, I went to https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx and entered the DOT number on the truck. It pulled up the name and contact information of the company that owned this truck (as well as their safety record). We called the company to report this incident and to let them know in no uncertain terms that many lives could have been lost that day because of their driver. The driver would not answer his cell when his employer called him, but the company representative did ask the police officer to instruct this guy to 'park it' while someone could come and take him directly for drug testing.
So, while I hope you never have to witness such a horrendous scenario, the information I provided above just may save lives if you will just use it. It was only by the grace of God so many people could go home to their families that day... including us!
jrzygrl64 said
03:57 PM Mar 28, 2014
Thank goodness everything turned out ok - you must have been so scared! Good for you though to follow him and make sure he was reported. YOU probably saved lives because ne couldn't leave and endanger more people!
Jo And Craig said
04:41 PM Mar 28, 2014
You are absolutely correct, Kelly, and that is why we did follow him. It would have been "on us" had we not followed, and we could not have lived with ourselves if something had happened. The entire thing was so surreal... like something out of a very bad movie. That's the only way I can describe it.
BTW, I had trouble logging into RVillage, but will try again! ;)
MarkS said
05:10 PM Mar 28, 2014
So very not true. DPS can declare him out of service for 10 hours just for appearing fatigued. At the very least the responding officer can request a DOT qualified LEO be dispatched if they are not comfortable with taking appropriate action.
Jo And Craig said
05:31 PM Mar 28, 2014
It wasn't DPS, but the local police. Not sure if that makes a difference. No doubt, Mark, you are so much more knowledgeable about the road than I am! Anyway, bottom line, I do not believe he left the cement plant by himself.
TRAILERKING said
06:17 PM Mar 28, 2014
Sleeping Drivers...................
Workinrvers said
04:09 AM Mar 29, 2014
MarkS wrote:
So very not true. DPS can declare him out of service for 10 hours just for appearing fatigued. At the very least the responding officer can request a DOT qualified LEO be dispatched if they are not comfortable with taking appropriate action.
Local officers likely are not DOT Certified to enforce the Federal DOT laws, I wasn't as a Deputy Sheriff. They can and sounds like they should have, detained this guy until a DOT officer could arrive that does have the authority to take action. Working as Gate Guards in the oil fields we have ran into a lot of drivers who run many, many hours without a break. Just last week we had the same drivers in and out of our gate for almost a full 24 hours, you could almost set your clock by them, they come in and an hour later they are loaded and leave, 1 1/2 hrs later they are back for another load all day and then all night long. There has been a lot of local media attention on the large amount of deadly accidents in the communities of the oil fields but no one seems to want to talk about the "Elephant in the room" and address driver fatigue and increasing enforcement and inspections to save lives.
One news report said there were only 2 DPS officers assigned to the county we were in (LaSalle) even though the large truck traffic is non-stop all hours of the day and night. Personally I don't think they want to "bite the hand that feeds you" by increasing enforcement in an area that is obviously pouring in a ton of $'s to the economy. They have vehicle inspections here in Texas and frankly I cannot see how some of the semis I saw pass the test. They come through the gate with bumpers hanging, fenders 1/2 torn off, lights not working etc. They have obviously been "rode hard and put up wet".
Mary,
Thank you for taking the initiative and sticking to it. Hopefully this guy got the break he needed and if they drug tested him and he was positive they took the necessary action to get him off the road.
Phil
MarkS said
08:59 AM Mar 29, 2014
I think Texas is pretty lax at addressing trucks. I never saw an open scale or heard of anyone being stopped in Texas for DOT related issues. Those oil field guys have some less restrictive rules, especially for hours of service and may not even keep log books. It's a shame, but it's the way it is.
Ravenlotus said
10:41 AM Mar 29, 2014
Glad you the other people are safe. I book marked the website you provided just in case. Again glad you're safe.
Mark V said
11:27 AM Mar 29, 2014
While I definitely would have called it in, I'm not so sure I'd be willing to follow this idiot down the road to possible oblivion, and would likely have pulled off the road ASAP. I'm not that brave. I mean, there was no realistic way of stopping him, (short of doing something ridiculous like ramming him or shooting out his tires) so I fail to see what purpose would have been served in dying along with him. He could have caused a pile-up that stretched as far as the eye could see, engulfing you, along with everyone in front of him.
Reminds me of that old joke about wanting to die like in my sleep Grandpa; not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car.
Jo And Craig said
06:40 PM Mar 30, 2014
Our only thought for following this guy was so we could let law enforcement know where he was. He was just too dangerous to ignore. Never thought about ourselves. While we don't know the final outcome, we did what we could.
kb0zke said
07:19 PM Mar 30, 2014
Following at a safe distance would seem to be just fine. It sounds like you could stay quite a ways behind him and still keep a good watch on him. We've done something similar when a car passed us and cut in right in front of us. This was on an empty 4-lane divided highway. I was driving and Jo Ann called it in. She stayed on the phone while I stayed with the car. They pulled into a grocery parking lot and I pulled in right behind them. The police car pulled in right behind me. Turned out the driver was a student driver and had never passed anyone before. She got a bit of a driving lesson but nothing else. They didn't even get their groceries because the store had closed an hour before. At least no one was in any great danger.
Once again, I apologize for this lengthy post, but it could potentially save a life (or lives) one day. Please read and make note of the link included herein. Actually, it wouldn't hurt to store this information in your phone!
Last week we were not far from home on our way to visit friends at their lake house. We were behind a fully-loaded gravel hauler on a 2-lane road in the country. Not long after taking off from a light, we noticed the hauler cross over the yellow line. OK, maybe just a careless moment. A few seconds later, he went over the yellow line, again. THEN, he began DRIVING IN THE LANE OF THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC for quite a distance, then shifting back to his lane, then back to the shoulder where he drove for some distance, again! This went on for 7 solid miles (down this one road, alone) while vehicles in the oncoming lane had to hit the shoulder to avoid a head-on collision. I was driving our vehicle and was screaming and crying the entire time while my husband had 911 on the phone relaying our location all the while. It was the most scary thing I have ever experienced as I tried to prepare myself for multiple fatalities right before our very eyes! We got to the red light in the next town and noticed that this hauler was easing backwards. My husband started hollering for me to back up. Thank God no one was behind us, so I did. Then, we followed him down the freeway (headed east, just west of Houston). Again, all over the road. At one point, a tanker truck was coming up beside us and this hauler drifted half way into his lane! Needless to say, the tanker driver had to steer toward the guardrail to avoid a horrendous accident which could have easily included US! Because we were driving through different territorial jurisdictions, no safety officers were able to catch up with us. After exiting the freeway and crossing over the overpass, the hauler still could not stay in his lane. The hauler eventually ended up at a cement plant in Katy where we remained, observing him until the local Police showed up. Again, not in their jurisdiction, but the officer DID run a check on his drivers license, questioned him, gave him the walking sobriety test, etc. The guy did not seem under the influence, but the officer said he appeared to be fatigued and there was some "tobacco"-type substance on the floorboard. Long story short, there was nothing DPS, Katy PD, or anyone else could do, it seemed. BUT, the officer did give us a website I want to share with all of you. Using my phone, I went to https://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx and entered the DOT number on the truck. It pulled up the name and contact information of the company that owned this truck (as well as their safety record). We called the company to report this incident and to let them know in no uncertain terms that many lives could have been lost that day because of their driver. The driver would not answer his cell when his employer called him, but the company representative did ask the police officer to instruct this guy to 'park it' while someone could come and take him directly for drug testing.
So, while I hope you never have to witness such a horrendous scenario, the information I provided above just may save lives if you will just use it. It was only by the grace of God so many people could go home to their families that day... including us!
You are absolutely correct, Kelly, and that is why we did follow him. It would have been "on us" had we not followed, and we could not have lived with ourselves if something had happened. The entire thing was so surreal... like something out of a very bad movie. That's the only way I can describe it.
BTW, I had trouble logging into RVillage, but will try again! ;)
It wasn't DPS, but the local police. Not sure if that makes a difference. No doubt, Mark, you are so much more knowledgeable about the road than I am! Anyway, bottom line, I do not believe he left the cement plant by himself.
Local officers likely are not DOT Certified to enforce the Federal DOT laws, I wasn't as a Deputy Sheriff. They can and sounds like they should have, detained this guy until a DOT officer could arrive that does have the authority to take action. Working as Gate Guards in the oil fields we have ran into a lot of drivers who run many, many hours without a break. Just last week we had the same drivers in and out of our gate for almost a full 24 hours, you could almost set your clock by them, they come in and an hour later they are loaded and leave, 1 1/2 hrs later they are back for another load all day and then all night long. There has been a lot of local media attention on the large amount of deadly accidents in the communities of the oil fields but no one seems to want to talk about the "Elephant in the room" and address driver fatigue and increasing enforcement and inspections to save lives.
One news report said there were only 2 DPS officers assigned to the county we were in (LaSalle) even though the large truck traffic is non-stop all hours of the day and night. Personally I don't think they want to "bite the hand that feeds you" by increasing enforcement in an area that is obviously pouring in a ton of $'s to the economy. They have vehicle inspections here in Texas and frankly I cannot see how some of the semis I saw pass the test. They come through the gate with bumpers hanging, fenders 1/2 torn off, lights not working etc. They have obviously been "rode hard and put up wet".
Mary,
Thank you for taking the initiative and sticking to it. Hopefully this guy got the break he needed and if they drug tested him and he was positive they took the necessary action to get him off the road.
Phil
While I definitely would have called it in, I'm not so sure I'd be willing to follow this idiot down the road to possible oblivion, and would likely have pulled off the road ASAP. I'm not that brave. I mean, there was no realistic way of stopping him, (short of doing something ridiculous like ramming him or shooting out his tires) so I fail to see what purpose would have been served in dying along with him. He could have caused a pile-up that stretched as far as the eye could see, engulfing you, along with everyone in front of him.
Reminds me of that old joke about wanting to die like in my sleep Grandpa; not screaming at the top of my lungs like the passengers in his car.
Our only thought for following this guy was so we could let law enforcement know where he was. He was just too dangerous to ignore. Never thought about ourselves. While we don't know the final outcome, we did what we could.