Unbelievable Letter to the Editor:

[nobb4u]

I love to read the Sunday newspaper there is just something about taking an hour and reading it from front to back looking at every page and saving the comics for next to last because I like to save the ads for last. This Sunday morning though after I read the letters to the editor I could no longer enjoy my paper and I am sure by now you are either enthralled by my experience or bored. So now to the cause of my despair:

On July 11, 2007 in Albany, NY two young girls chose to drink and drive and ended up entering the interstate highway going the wrong direction, they encountered three trucks on the highway, ran head on into one of the truck, and also hit another one. They both died at the scene the truck driver received minor injuries.

And this is the letter printed in The Times Union paper that so upset me:



Truckers dominating roads a factor in crash

First published: Sunday, July 22, 2007
Regarding your article about the July 11 wrong-way crash on Interstate 787 that killed two girls:
Admittedly, this driver was in the wrong and she and her passenger paid the supreme price. She made a deadly error driving the wrong way on 787, but after entering the multilane highway, and encountering three tractor-trailers, one in each lane, she had no way to correct her mistake.

There isn't a reason in the world these trucks should have completely filled the highway. This happens with truckers every day, every hour on every highway. Example: I-81, both north and south, where trucks virtually control the highways. If one lane was not occupied, perhaps the driver could have corrected her mistake.
It used to be that large trucks had one lane, the right lane. I drove tractor-trailers in those days. Now, truckers drive two by two, three by three, and cars beware. I understand time is money, but common sense should prevail.
I'm sure truck drivers will jump all over this, but a mistake -- whether drugs, alcohol or inattention were involved -- should not have ended as it did.

ROBERT BEAMISH Albany




It makes me wonder what this same person would be saying if the girls had not encountered the poor trucker who must live with the fact that these two young kids are now dead, not that it is his fault but I know that it would still prey on any trucker’s mind that he had a hand in their deaths. What do you think his letter might be if say, they encountered three mini vans full of his or someone else’s kids or grandkids and this drunk driver killed 2, 3, 4 or 10 other people?

I know this should not bother me so but it still amazes me everyday how people manage to get out of bed get dressed and find their way to work and home again.

[Turtle]

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...beamish+albany

Phonebook results for robert beamish albany
Robert Beamish (518) 482-7605 23 Avon Pl, Albany, NY 12203

Robert Beamish is a former truck driver. He said so himself. I'm guessing that it wasn't his choice to leave the profession. Any competent trucker would want to know all of the facts before he places blame on anyone.

"The accident is the second in less than a year in which a car has traveled the wrong way on I-787. In September 2006, Matthew Collins of Queensbury died when his Volkswagen Jetta collided with a pickup truck after entering I-787 through the Clinton Avenue exit in Albany. Collins was intoxicated, state Department of Transportation spokesman Peter Van Keuren said."

"The woman driving an SUV the wrong way on Interstate 787 when it crashed into a truck had a blood-alcohol content three times the legal limit, State Police said Friday. Sara A. Epstein, 19, of Troy had a blood-alcohol content of 0.24 percent when she crashed her car before 4 a.m. Wednesday, police said. Her passenger, Alicia J. Quintana, 21, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.25 percent."

"Police said Thursday that Epstein and Quintana entered I-787 at the Madison Avenue exit and drove 2.8 miles north in the southbound lane before the fatal collision in Menands. Both women died on impact. As the two traveled along the highway in the hours before dawn broke, police got four calls in just 60 seconds warning that the car was heading in the wrong direction."

"Epstein, a daughter of Troy police Sgt. Ronald Epstein, attended Hudson Valley Community College and graduated from Lansingburgh High School in 2006. Noting that because Epstein is younger than 21, the state drinking age, "we'll be looking to see if there was any culpability on the part of any servers, but it remains under investigation, reported Maj. Patricia M. Groeber of the State Police."

"A week after two young women were killed in a head-on crash after a night of drinking, two bartenders and six underage female drinkers were arrested early Friday when investigators from three agencies hit two taverns looking for violators, Albany County District Attorney David Soares said. Five investigators from Soares' office joined with investigators from the state Liquor Authority and Department of Motor Vehicles in a sweep of two bars -- Stone Crow on Yates Street and Sadie Klutz on Madison Avenue -- beginning at 11:30 p.m. Thursday and working both the outside and inside of the establishments."

"We are not on a crusade to shut down our entertainment centers in the Capital District," Soares said. "It is more about responsibility and accountability."

"Last year in Albany, the authority suspended the license of the Library Lounge on North Lake Avenue after a raid found 22 of 30 customers were underage. The authority also revoked the license of the Mardi Gras on Broadway for repeatedly serving underage patrons."