And we wonder why all the regulations about cell phones...

[Dreamer]

Trucker slams into parked cruiser while on cell phone looking at women.... kills officer.



VIDEO: Arizona Trucker, Jorge Espinoza, Crashes Into Cop Car While Looking at Facebook Photos of Women | Fox News Insider

 

[layoutshooter]

I think that this story proves the idea that regulation does not stop stupid. Never has, never will.

 

[zorry]

If he's done this before, it looks like the company really self-incriminated itself.

Feel bad for all the victims.

Guy wasn't cut out to be a truck driver.

 

[LDB]

If he's done it before why isn't he locked up with the key thrown away?

 

[noneya]

Dumba$$

SENT FROM YA MAMA'S HOUSE

 

[ATeam]

The truck driver was totally wrong. That part is obvious.

But what I'm left wondering about is the way the trooper parked his car on the highway and was sitting in it. I've seen news stories about how troopers are trained to be super-careful when working along side of the road. It makes no sense to me why a trooper would park his car like that and then sit in it. From the video, it does not appear that he had his flashing lights on either. We'll never know what he was thinking and doing because the poor man died in the crash.

That's not to excuse the truck driver in any way. Flashing lights or not, the truck driver should have seen that stopped car in the lane a good mile ahead of time on that road and in that clear-day, bright Arizona light visibility. It shows just how distracting a cell phone can really be.

EDIT: I found more information here.

Excerpt:

At the time of the crash, Huffman was inside his vehicle writing a report on an injury collision that he and two other DPS officers were investigating on eastbound I-8.

Emergency medical personnel responding to the injury collision had asked DPS officers to close one lane of traffic to allow for the transport of the injured, and one of the officers parked his patrol car, with emergency lights flashing, in that lane. Huffman then parked his patrol vehicle a few feet away on the shoulder and began his paperwork.

Speculation offered by me above was wrong. The officer who died was not in the patrol car that was parked in the lane.

 

[ATeam]

If he's done this before, it looks like the company really self-incriminated itself.

That's an interesting point. The surveillance system the company put in the truck to monitor the driver and protect itself is now being used against them in court.

 

[zorry]

You'd think companies wouldn't want the cameras.
Sure, this will push the blame towards the driver.
The driver doesn't have deep pockets like the insurance company or the carrier.
If tapes are reviewed daily, seriously reviewed, how many drivers will really pass muster ? Johnny was yawning, is he safe ? Bob was rubbing his eyes. Is he capable ? Louie looked over at the beach for 10 seconds. Bring him in for a safety review.
I don't like where this going.

 

[ATeam]

You'd think companies wouldn't want the cameras.
Sure, this will push the blame towards the driver.
The driver doesn't have deep pockets like the insurance company or the carrier.
If tapes are reviewed daily, seriously reviewed, how many drivers will really pass muster ? Johnny was yawning, is he safe ? Bob was rubbing his eyes. Is he capable ? Louie looked over at the beach for 10 seconds. Bring him in for a safety review.
I don't like where this going.

Exactly. An innocent yawn, like the kind you have after waking up from eight hours of sleep, or an itchy eye, like the kind you have when a heavy pollen count affects you, look totally different when the footage is viewed after a serious accident. The footage remains the same but the context and people's interpretations totally change.

For advocates of robot-driven trucks, dash cams help make their case.

And about those deep pockets, the insurance company will likely deny the claim based on the driver's illegal activity.

 

[moose]

the law clearly say no FB while driving a CMV.
sever punishment are already attached.
a driver break the law.
what they will do next?
make another striker law.
and that's NTSB for you.

 

[davekc]

Most of it is lawyer driven. That is why some (law firms) want to move the commercial liabilty of $750,000 to 4.5 million. It is all about the money. If this goes through, some of the smaller carriers will have to say good-bye.
And of course, the bigger self insured outfits like JB, Schnieder, Swift all support this. Why? To eliminate competition.

 

[zorry]

From someone that remembers life prior to "deregulation" , less competition can be a good thing.

If a shipper had 15 choices, rather than hundreds,or thousands, do you think there'd be .70 cpm van loads ?

 

[pearlpro]

Todays younger generation cant put the devices down, there addicted to the last minute afraid LIFE will pass them by, Pictures, Videos, Tweets , Twerks, they have to see it now, ever walk thru a mall or anywhere, theyve ALL got that phone or tablet out on it....if younger drivers are following this trend, WOW...I dont text while driving, I yawn and rub my eyes, when the day comes that I have to install a camera To CYA while driving Im done, I say again if a person has a good safety record it should stand for something, WHY be cautious, WHY avoid accidents, WHY keep your CSA points low if it counts for nothing....I would think Insurance companies would reward those of us who show competence, not the other way around....to have a camera record my every driving moment so I can prove im innocent...what the hell kinda life have we created

 

[zorry]

And about those deep pockets, the insurance company will likely deny the claim based on the driver's illegal activity.

Can an insurance company walk away from responsibility that easily ?

Or will they be found 40% liable, the company 30% for tolerating the activity, and the driver 30% for being a moron.

I'm sure he was on a boring drive, probably runs it daily.

Difficult question :

Would Ted Nugent or Aerosmith, with the mandatory air guitar been less distracting ?

Or even more sedate, and reasoned to be appropriate, a book on tape ?
Who hasn't got "lost" in a good book ?

 

[ATeam]

Can an insurance company walk away from responsibility that easily ?

It depends on how the insurance policy is worded. The insurance company may have no responsibility at all. Life insurance policies have language in them that protect the insurance company from paying death benefits if suicide is the cause of death. If a death claim is made and suicide is the cause, the insurance company has no responsibility whatsoever. Responsibility is not a function of the insurance company being an insurance company. It is a function of the agreed upon risks that are covered and stated in the policy.

This driver's actions are not only illegal but also grossly negligent. An insurance company would not likely be able to deny coverage because of a stop sign being run (also an illegal act), but in a case like this, there very well could be wording in the policy that enables the company to deny coverage. Can't say for sure, without knowing the language, but I would think that most any insurance company has language in its policies to protects them from paying claims in cases as blatant as this one is.

 

[ATeam]

Difficult question :

Would Ted Nugent or Aerosmith, with the mandatory air guitar been less distracting ?

Or even more sedate, and reasoned to be appropriate, a book on tape ?
Who hasn't got "lost" in a good book ?

Distracted driving is distracted driving. Whether it is porn, a book on tape, putting make-up on while driving, dialing your cell phone to schedule a dental appointment or fiddling with your GPS device, it does not matter. If you are distracted, you are distracted.

That said, sexual content has a social stigma attached to it that most other distractions do not, and that will hurt this driver in court. But if he had been fiddling with GPS instead of looking photos of scantily clad women on Facebook, and everything else in the accident remained the same, the book would have been thrown at him just as hard. The issue is not the content of what he was viewing. It is that he was distracted while driving and a terrible accident was the result.