Truck operator backs into on-the-move pancake patron — Could he have prevented the accident?

Preventablepg40Truck operator John Doe was headed down Route 99 on his way to his next delivery — a pancake house.

As the sun rose, Doe seemed to be the only vehicle on the highway.

When he got to the pancake house, it was closed, and the parking lot was empty, except for a small Toyota.

Doe saw it belonged to a too-soon patron, and then he went back to work backing into the lot of the restaurant.

What he didn’t notice, however, was that the patron had returned to the Toyota and had started blindly backing out.

Without notice from either, the Toyota was suddenly directly in the path of Doe’s trailer, and he backed directly into it, caving in her trunk.

He was later hit with a preventable accident warning from his carrier, which he contested.

The National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee was called in to make a final decision. It ruled against Doe, saying he should have anticipated the possible departure by the Toyota and should have sounded his alarm to alert the vehicle’s driver before backing into the parking lot.

This was an adaptation of Overdrive sister site CCJ‘s “Preventable or not?” series, which appears regularly on CCJdigital.com.