One of the guys that has been helping me out with police stuff... he just wrote this post up tonight.... damn....
____________________________________________________________________________________
Packed the family up in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and left this morning to go to Salt Lake City (about a 12 hr drive) to visit the wife's sister. We are driving east bound on I-84 in Idaho at about mile post 199 in the left lane when I see a pickup truck stalled, but off the road on the right shoulder about 1/4 mile up ahead. There is a semi-truck and a pickup towing a huge travel trailer (35' or so) behind him, following about 10 car lengths behind. They are traveling at about 65 mph and I am going about 80 and approaching to start to overtake them.
The semi truck, upon seeing the stalled pickup, moves over to the left lane, straddling both lanes ahead of me. He does this, IMO, to give the pickup room even though he was off the road, as a courtesy. But, because he does this, I take off the cruise control so that I don't ride up on him. But, this now puts me right next to the pickup with the travel trailer.
The Spidey senses kick in, and I realize that the pickup may try to do the same thing the semi did, again as a courtesy. The front bumper of my car was about at the mid section of his truck bed, and I am still going about 8-10 mph faster than he is. I decide to accelerate a bit to get passed him a bit quicker, and then it happens. We are still a good 500' from the stalled pickup when the pickup and travel trailer start to come into my lane, quickly.
I immediately swerve to the left and my left tires actually crossed the rumble strips and left the roadway. At the same time, I honked my horn and started to slow, but didn't want to brake because I was partially off road now. There was still about 4 feet between our vehicles, and I am almost right next to him. When I hit the horn, since my bumper was right next to his door, I saw him look over, see me, and panic! He jerked the wheel to the right to go back in his lane and he hit the brakes. I get passed him, get back on the roadway and in my rear view mirror see the trailer start to wobble, then fishtail. At this point, I realize he has completely lost it. He is over correcting all of his turns, and I see him swerve from one side of the interstate to the other.
He went back and forth, and the trailer is starting to slide. As it passes the stalled pickup, it is in a full slide and misses the stall by no more than 6 inches. The guy who was in the back (outside the truck) dives off the roadway. Then it happened, the truck over corrects to the right, the trailer flips on to its left side just as the driver over corrects to the left. My wife has her head turned like an owl is just plained frightened and keeps saying, "Oh dear god." I have slowed now to a near stop as did the semi truck that was in front and we watch in horror as the pickup ends up flipping on to its right side, enters the median and contines to roll on to its roof. The roof collapses and the truck is squashed. I flip a u-turn in the median and turn around and rush back the scene. In the minute it took me to get back to the accident, there were already 10 people at the truck trying to help.
The guy in the stalled truck bugged out and fled the scene. I walked up to the driver's side of the truck and I see the driver's butt hanging out the window. He wasn't wearing a seat belt and he wasn't moving. The cab of the truck is now crushed to the height of about the normal driver's shoulder and I am thinking the guy was likely decapitated inside.
I get to the other side and they are pulling out his wife and she is screaming about her husband. I get her to sit down on the side of the road while we both look to see what happens. We are both stunned to see her husband crawl out on his own.
Someone on the scene who didn't know I was driving the van said that the first thing he said was, "I didn't see that van, are they ok?" Then he says, "I just couldn't control it."
The trailer was blocking the entire interstate (both lanes and one shoulder) so about 12 of us got to the rear end of it while it was on it's side and pushed it so that a lane of traffic could get through including trucks.
I waited until the Idaho state troopers arrived, gave my statement, and was told I was free to go. I know it wasn't my fault, but I still can't help but feel responsible. I feel terrible. What a way to start a vacation.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Packed the family up in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and left this morning to go to Salt Lake City (about a 12 hr drive) to visit the wife's sister. We are driving east bound on I-84 in Idaho at about mile post 199 in the left lane when I see a pickup truck stalled, but off the road on the right shoulder about 1/4 mile up ahead. There is a semi-truck and a pickup towing a huge travel trailer (35' or so) behind him, following about 10 car lengths behind. They are traveling at about 65 mph and I am going about 80 and approaching to start to overtake them.
The semi truck, upon seeing the stalled pickup, moves over to the left lane, straddling both lanes ahead of me. He does this, IMO, to give the pickup room even though he was off the road, as a courtesy. But, because he does this, I take off the cruise control so that I don't ride up on him. But, this now puts me right next to the pickup with the travel trailer.
The Spidey senses kick in, and I realize that the pickup may try to do the same thing the semi did, again as a courtesy. The front bumper of my car was about at the mid section of his truck bed, and I am still going about 8-10 mph faster than he is. I decide to accelerate a bit to get passed him a bit quicker, and then it happens. We are still a good 500' from the stalled pickup when the pickup and travel trailer start to come into my lane, quickly.
I immediately swerve to the left and my left tires actually crossed the rumble strips and left the roadway. At the same time, I honked my horn and started to slow, but didn't want to brake because I was partially off road now. There was still about 4 feet between our vehicles, and I am almost right next to him. When I hit the horn, since my bumper was right next to his door, I saw him look over, see me, and panic! He jerked the wheel to the right to go back in his lane and he hit the brakes. I get passed him, get back on the roadway and in my rear view mirror see the trailer start to wobble, then fishtail. At this point, I realize he has completely lost it. He is over correcting all of his turns, and I see him swerve from one side of the interstate to the other.
He went back and forth, and the trailer is starting to slide. As it passes the stalled pickup, it is in a full slide and misses the stall by no more than 6 inches. The guy who was in the back (outside the truck) dives off the roadway. Then it happened, the truck over corrects to the right, the trailer flips on to its left side just as the driver over corrects to the left. My wife has her head turned like an owl is just plained frightened and keeps saying, "Oh dear god." I have slowed now to a near stop as did the semi truck that was in front and we watch in horror as the pickup ends up flipping on to its right side, enters the median and contines to roll on to its roof. The roof collapses and the truck is squashed. I flip a u-turn in the median and turn around and rush back the scene. In the minute it took me to get back to the accident, there were already 10 people at the truck trying to help.
The guy in the stalled truck bugged out and fled the scene. I walked up to the driver's side of the truck and I see the driver's butt hanging out the window. He wasn't wearing a seat belt and he wasn't moving. The cab of the truck is now crushed to the height of about the normal driver's shoulder and I am thinking the guy was likely decapitated inside.
I get to the other side and they are pulling out his wife and she is screaming about her husband. I get her to sit down on the side of the road while we both look to see what happens. We are both stunned to see her husband crawl out on his own.
Someone on the scene who didn't know I was driving the van said that the first thing he said was, "I didn't see that van, are they ok?" Then he says, "I just couldn't control it."
The trailer was blocking the entire interstate (both lanes and one shoulder) so about 12 of us got to the rear end of it while it was on it's side and pushed it so that a lane of traffic could get through including trucks.
I waited until the Idaho state troopers arrived, gave my statement, and was told I was free to go. I know it wasn't my fault, but I still can't help but feel responsible. I feel terrible. What a way to start a vacation.
