Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Vigilance lost…and patience too: Needless accidents stacking up

Article thanks to TomQuimby and hardworkingtrucks.com. Links provided:

Jan 30, 2018  Some Good Samaritans in Colorado nearly paid an unthinkable price this week while trying to save the life of a truck driver.
This heart- and gut-wrenching scene serves as yet another prime reminder to drive carefully because a split-second is all it takes for a bad decision to turn deadly.
Boulder residents Jeff and Krysten Fogg and been driving Monday with their two-year-old son on U.S. 36 in Boulder County when a tractor-trailer ahead of them suddenly slowed down and began to roll in reverse.
The truck, which had been towing a dry freight trailer, kept backing down the highway until it jackknifed onto the side of the road. Jeff Fogg and another motorist went to see if they could help the trucker, while Jeff’s wife stayed behind in their SUV to call 911.
A dispatcher instructed Krysten Fogg to first make sure the hazard lights were on in their SUV and then asked her to go check on the driver. As she walked towards the truck, the unthinkable happened: a pickup traveling at around 60 mph crashed into an oncoming ambulance and then collided into the Fogg’s SUV sending it and their two-year-old son inside about 30 feet from where it had been parked.
“I was screaming. I was like my baby is in that car, my baby is in that car, and my husband took off running,” Krysten Fogg told Fox 31 Denver.
Thankfully, Hudson was still buckled safely in his car seat and appeared to be unharmed. Jeff Fogg said his son was more concerned about the glass in his Pringles chips.
No details have been released on the trucker who unfortunately died of an unknown medical cause.
The Foggs, obviously still shaken up by the day’s events, are hoping that motorists will drive more carefully. We are too.
“People just don’t pay attention as much anymore,” Jeff Fogg said. “They’re on their phones or doing whatever and I don’t know if this man was on his phone, but there were lights and sirens on both side of the road and he decides to fly through them. Man, just slow down. Being late is not a big deal.”
The Fogg’s story recalls a harrowing accident on Detroit highway last week when a tow-truck driver was shown on video nearly getting hit by a speeding car whose driver had apparently been oblivious to him and the Michigan state trooper parked nearby.
Amazingly, the tow-truck driver was not hurt. Too many others have not been so fortunate.
The sad part here is that all of these incidents were completely avoidable if the drivers had been more concerned about driving safely versus doing God knows what else, whether that’s texting while driving, looking for a dropped cell phone or getting impatient with traffic. On that note, take a look at the video below and watch as a pickup driver in Florida, tired of waiting for a train, darts across the tracks and avoids getting nailed by just a second or two. Really?!
Jeri West, who had given her husband Geoff a dashcam for Christmas never thought that they’d record such lunacy. Sorry to say, but that camera will probably be capturing a lot more reckless driving in the days ahead among the dumb and the senseless.


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