This brings up an interesting point. You can not read or send messages over the Quallcom while the truck is moving. So, in order to communicate with dispatch, you pull over onto the shoulder of the road. While you're reading the message marked "URGENT", you get rear-ended.

Now, what happens???

 

Yeah? Was ya jest passin thru...or did you go on out to Sabine River Works? (aka; DuPont)

 

Drivers get blamed for everything it seems

We are supposed to possess 'Precognition'...that way we could see everything

coming and prevent it in advance.

 

I've always figured that if I rear-end somebody, it would be my fault, which makes sense. If someone is sitting on the side of the road, whether they are sleeping, or outside walking the dog, and someone rear-ends that truck, you would think the one that rear-ended the parked truck would be at fault. Who knows...they change so much up these days, you can't keep up. :lol:

 

It's a judgement call for the cops Jack. If your there for a legit reason and you get hit, I doubt they will charge you. If your brokedown, you can't help it and if someone hits you it should be there fault as long as you got the triangles out. Now if your sitting there sleeping on the shoulder(in VA that is illegal) and you get hit, your getting charged not the person who hit you unless they were doing something illegal themselves.

 

Have you ever read a trial transcript? They tend to be long, disjointed, complex and boring. To their credit, the Louisiana Supreme Court manages to keep their's fairly clear and concise. This is a relatively easy read if you choose to undertake it.

http://www.plol.org/Pages/Secure/Doc...d&l=Cases&rp=4

To register, you'll need to provide a working email and create a password. I've been signed up here for at least 2 years and have never received any spam from them.

The short version of the story is, a USA Truck with a history of electrical problems broke down on an unlit stretch of I-10 but the driver did manage to get it to the shoulder. Nothing was working, not even the Qualcomm. He set out 2 triangles and decided to call it a night. 2-3 hours later, at around 0330, a sober 20 year old guy wandered off the roadway and drove under the USA truck, killing him, probably instantly. For at least a short while, the USA driver tried to flag down help, gave up and went back to bed . . yes . . with the dead or dying man glued to his tandems.

The case goes to trial, USA and it's driver are found to be 25% responsible and the (snoozing?) 20 year old is 75%. Combined, USA and driver would owe the guy's parents $37,500. USA should have written the check and walked away. Instead, USA and driver appeal thinking they should have been found to have 0% responsibility.

Bad move. The appeals court reversed responsibility to 75% USA and driver with 25% to the dead guy and upped the award to $500, 000! USA walked in owing $37,500 and walked out owing $400,000, plus costs for both sides!

In addition to this case, the transcript gives a quick review of 5 or 6 other cases to explain how this court came to it's conclusion for this case. Read them and learn. The bottom line is that the shoulder is not relief parking for shoddy equipment. It's there to accommodate weaving drivers and short term breakdowns. I think Senad is going to be OK as long as he didn't stop in the roadway.

 

I would agree that if you are on the side of the road, sleeping...and someone nails ya, it should be on you. At the same time, the (other) driver should have been more aware/alert. I'm sure it is very hard to call in that situation.

 

Ok, after seeing this video of the scene I can understand why the truck driver may be in trouble. The video below may clear things up.

The semi was not on the shoulder, I was thinking he was parked on the shoulder near the top of the ramp like you often see semi's parked.

Victim Identified In I-70 Semi, Car Crash - News Story - WHIO Dayton

 

Where he stopped, he SHOULD be charged. He didn't even try getting as close to the barrier as he could. All that for a small bird??? It'd be different if he hit something a bit larger, say a black bear or a moose.

 

I've hit a turkey in the windshield that left a depression you could cradle a basketball in. But I'd hit small birds all the time. Even hit an owl once with no damage to the truck. Don't know what a turkey would do to the fiberglass but you don't want one in the windshield.

And, when I pulled off, it was on the edge of a ramp. He didn't have any room to pull off there. Not enough room between traveled lane and the barrier.