Truck Crash in Edmonton

[T@T]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Semi truck drivers have to have a physical every year. If he had some sort of medical condition that could possibly cause him to react like this, he shouldn't have been driving semi trucks. Just my opinion.

Not until 50 years of age, 40-50 every 2 years and under 40 you only need a physical every 5 years.

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah, with 15km...thats what 8 minutes or so, say it goes on for about 2 until it's reported...I can see how there isnt' enough time to close off the West end of the city. But if it's 40, thats at least 20 minutes to act, and a lot more distance to work with. They easily barricade the road at 170th, and get all the access points to the Yellowhead going West shut down with that much time, at least the main roads out of Edmonton like 170th, 184th, Henday, 215th.

Another thing is that if you watch the video and you see how the road is...in order to launch off like that you need to "ride up" the metal guardrail to get air borne. The Concrete ones are designed to deflect him back into the road. So I'm skeptical to think that this is pure concidence that the driver by chance rode up that guardrail like that and launch off the road. To my recollection for about the last 10-15 km going into Edmonton from the West that would be the first time that the Yellowhead would pass over another road like that. It could have happened that way I guess how does he pass through several other over passes and not once hit a support column off the median?

[SteveToms]

I am much to lazy to check, but is the road straight for 40 km???

[worth]

yeah and is edmonton even 40k wide or long?

[nieuwy-89]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Another thing is that if you watch the video and you see how the road is...in order to launch off like that you need to "ride up" the metal guardrail to get air borne. The Concrete ones are designed to deflect him back into the road. So I'm skeptical to think that this is pure concidence that the driver by chance rode up that guardrail like that and launch off the road. To my recollection for about the last 10-15 km going into Edmonton from the West that would be the first time that the Yellowhead would pass over another road like that. It could have happened that way I guess how does he pass through several other over passes and not once hit a support column off the median?

You're right that this is the first overpass - the rest of them the Yellowhead travels under the cross roads. You're also right that he was able to launch himself off at this point. Usually the barriers would deflect you back on to the road.

My buddy thinks he waited to plunge off the railway bridge so he woudn't hurt anyone else.

A very wierd and sad incident. The RCMP/EPS really need to look at their procedures for monitoring traffic on the highway. Its unacceptable that he was able to travel so far going the wrong way.

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by nieuwy-89

A very wierd and sad incident. The RCMP/EPS really need to look at their procedures for monitoring traffic on the highway. Its unacceptable that he was able to travel so far going the wrong way.

Because semi's traveling on the wrong side of the road is a common occurrence? I am sure there will be a policy or at least a contingency plan put in place now.

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by T@T

Not until 50 years of age, 40-50 every 2 years and under 40 you only need a physical every 5 years.

I didn't realize that, thanks. Makes the fact that he may have had a medical emergency a little bit more acceptable now.

[DFO]

Saw this in the paper today,

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...1-027308d83688

Family figures that his diabetes contributed to the accident.

[Resolute 14]

Unfortunately, his family is speculating like the rest of us, and in their case, it would be much easier to accept this as a medically induced accident than potentially as a deliberate action.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Unfortunately, his family is speculating like the rest of us, and in their case, it would be much easier to accept this as a medically induced accident than potentially as a deliberate action.

They are offering up a fairly plausible explanation. Its a little easier to believe than an over dramatic suicide attempt. If he really wanted to kill himself why wait 20km to do so?

[SteveToms]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Unfortunately, his family is speculating like the rest of us, and in their case, it would be much easier to accept this as a medically induced accident than potentially as a deliberate action.

Then he should not have been driving a semi

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

They are offering up a fairly plausible explanation. Its a little easier to believe than an over dramatic suicide attempt. If he really wanted to kill himself why wait 20km to do so?

If you believe some of the eyewitness reports, it was because he was trying to take others to the grave with him. Who knows if that is true or not.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by SteveToms

Then he should not have been driving a semi

So we ban every diabetic from driving??

Thats pretty heavy handed considering this is an isolated incident, and there are millions of diabetics that drive. He probably should have recognized the warning signs and pulled over, but maybe it came on too quickly. I'm not diabetic so I really don't know.

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

If you believe some of the eyewitness reports, it was because he was trying to take others to the grave with him. Who knows if that is true or not.

I dont really buy peoples accounts when the vehicle is coming at them.. His driving was probably pretty random, and they just assumed he was trying to take people out.. Besides if he wanted to hit someone I'm pretty sure he could have, how hard is it to drift into a vehicle at the last moment..

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

They are offering up a fairly plausible explanation. Its a little easier to believe than an over dramatic suicide attempt. If he really wanted to kill himself why wait 20km to do so?

That's the $64,000 question, isn't it? Honestly, knowing that section of the Yellowhead, the believability factor that the truck could maintain speed and course for 20km with the driver suffering some kind of incapacitating illness is very, very low.

We'll probably never know what happened, however.

[ken0042]

I keep thinking of a bus crash I was on. Going from Grande Prairie to Edmonton for a U2 concert, our driver had a stroke behind the wheel. In the 15 minutes before the crash I noticed we weren't taking the curves on the highway very smoothly. (My first thought was some sort of comercial where they say: This isn't Greyhound) After hitting the guard rails a few times we attempted to take control of the bus from our obviously dying bus driver. The thing is the driver kept fighting us; thinking we were trying to hijack the bus.

This was after hitting guard rails, and clipping mirrors with an oncoming semi. (And kudos to that semi driver; I don't know how we clipped mirrors and the back end of the vehicles didn't hit.)

Being borderline diabetic I also know that sometimes the best cure for a sugar imbalance is to get home quick to get the sugar or insulin that you need. A couple of times it has occurred to me that I was likely more impaired driving than after several beers. (I now keep cookies and pills in the glove compartment.)

I don't know what to believe yet in this case, but the diabetic shock angle is plausible.

[Jayems]

I'd hate it if that video was posted and it was a loved one... but since it's not, it's a pretty amazing, straight-out-of-a-movie video. Cudo's to that lady for being on the ball and getting the shots, and not bouncing around, zooming in and out. I wonder if she got some $$$ for it.

[Burninator]

I can't believe people are blaming the police for not setting up a road block. I doubt there is police anywhere that could step up a road block that fast. Things like this do not happen very often.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I can't believe people are blaming the police for not setting up a road block. I doubt there is police anywhere that could step up a road block that fast. Things like this do not happen very often.

Well how many kilometers did the truck actually drive in the wrong lane for? If it is 15-20....than yeah, they didn't have time to close the road off and get it blocked off, at least not the West end...they should have picked say 97th street and tried to block any access they could heading West, but you probably are looking at 10 minutes to get that all set up and thats the time it would take to go that distance. If it was the 40 or so that some claimed than they absolutely had time to cut off the West end of the city and block off most of the access to the road and get something done. Fart I only lived in Edmonton for two years and I can think of that off the top of my head....once reported that theres a truck going the wrong way...they easily can act on that right away.

I'm not blaming the Police for this...rather I was skeptical about the 40km thing, and I'm also skeptical that it was a pure 100% accident. Could the guy have been in a diabetic shock where his judgement was out of whack and he was acting crazy or in a state where he's in the wrong lane and didn't think to just stop the truck and get out of the lane and into the median...yeah, I could buy that. I don't think he was 100% passed out and blindly going down the road for 40km as was speculated in some of the reports.

[BlackArcher101]

One roadblock wouldn't work. The last thing you want is an out of control semi careening towards a wall of cars that are stopped on the road. They would need multiple roadblocks to prevent access to the Yellowhead instead, ie at every onramp. The logistics of that suddenly become a little more difficult and frankly... not doable by the EPS at the time.

I don't believe the suicide theory. If he really was aiming for vehicles it wouldn't have last as long as it did. Driving erratically from the witness accounts, does not equate to attempted suicide. For all we know, he may have been trying to dodge cars (which to some looks like aiming). I also don't believe other accounts saying it couldn't be medical because there is no way the semi would have stayed on the road that long. It is quite possible, like ken0042 mentioned, that a driver could be partially incapacitated through a medical condition. This would leave him with enough control (or the belief of control) to keep it on the road as long as he could.

[pylon]

In all honesty, after reading all of that, this guy should not have been driving a semi in the first place if he was known to have such sever diabetic seizures, where his friends described having to restrain him to force orange juice down his throat. So really a lot of blame could be directed at his employer, and or a system that wouldn't do enough background checking to recognise his medical condition.

Either way as sad as it was, that crash was freakin epic, you almost never see vehicles explode like that when they crash.