Truck driver John Doe swerved to the right and into a snow bank to avoid a dump truck who had dipped into his lane and was coming right at him. Could he have prevented the accident?A few days after the harsh cold of winter dropped a few feet of snow on the two-lane highway Rambler Road in the middle of Arkansas, truck driver John Doe was navigating the icy ruts and trying to make it through the dreary day.
His truck was covered in salt-spray, and he was piloting it slowly and carefully.
He then noticed a dump truck coming at him quickly in the other lane. Then, suddenly, the oncoming dump hit one of the deep ruts and popped into Doe’s lane, heading straight for Doe in a would-be head-on collision.
Doe immediately jerked his steering wheel hard to the right, steering his truck and trailer right into a snow bank, snapping off part of his bumper.
The dump truck slid right on by him and kept going.
Other than the bumper, Doe’s rig was just fine, and he got back on the road and continued his run.
However, Doe’s safety director hit him with a preventable accident charge, which he immediately contested. The National Safety Council’s Accident Review Committee made the final decision, ruling in favor of Doe.
The NSC said Doe had avoided a collision by moving to his right, which was his only alternative.
This was an adaptation of Overdrive sister site CCJ‘s “Preventable or not?” series, which appears regularly on CCJdigital.com.
