Man sentenced to 110 years for accidental automotive death of 4 people

He made a mistake. (That type of thing is usually considered "human error") There is no indication he had any reason to not go on that runaway truck ramp. (In fact it would have been to his own personal benefit and safety to do so) I just do not see any indication that that mistake was intentional.
I do not think it is right to hold him fully accountable for it, with this level of harshness.
There's a small chance almost anyone could have made that sort of mistake in that situation. When you are in a situation and something suddenly and unexpectedly goes wrong, it is natural human nature to panic and that person may not be making the best decisions and does not have a lot of time to think.

I don't understand why you want to blame this person for that type of mistake.

 

Dollars to doughnuts he was not braking correctly at all.

The runaway truck ramp is very clear, and there are many reasons why drivers do not use them.

He did in fact not use it, that can not be denied. That when he passed it by the traffic was still light, and he had no way of knowing that just a couple of miles down the road it would become congested.

"Mistake" is turning right instead of left and running into a fence. It is not a "mistake" if somebody in a 40 ton vehicle drives into over 2 dozen other vehicles. That is gross negligence that is criminal.

And it was not "suddenly", he was recorded as being out of control at speeds of over 85 mph miles before the emergency pullout. But it is also not unheard of for drivers to simply "coast it out", knowing that so long as they can keep their speed controlled via the engine and transmission that their brakes will return once the system has cooled again. I bet if not for that congestion he eventually would have coasted to a stop a mile or so farther down the freeway. Then pulled over, waited for his brakes to finish cooling then continued on his way.

 

Is there some more specific reason why he might not have wanted to use the runaway truck ramp?


I see a lot of overlap between this case and that case of the female police officer who mistaken reached for and fired her real gun instead of her stun gun, which she had thought she was firing.

 

Sure. At a minimum they will lose $2,500 (Colorado DOT emergency ramp fine), and be out of service for hours. And that price can go up significantly, as it may take a lot of money and time to get the truck back in service again. Especially as many states then require a DOT inspection be done before the truck is returned to service. Use such a ramp, and even if there is no additional damage either in its use or removal from it, you are looking at an average of 4-6 hours out of service.

Why do you think I have stated many times that I would love to know the information in his logs? What was his weight? What was his hours on the road? What was the status of his inspections? Because if you have to use one of those gravel traps, at a minimum the State Highway Patrol are going to be doing at least a minimum curbside investigation into all of that and more to find out why the driver needed to use the gravel trap. And if they find anything outside of what was allowed, it could result in impounding the vehicle. Especially for things such as poor maintenance, over weight, and driver grossly over time allowed.

 

It's a bad idea to be having a fine for doing something to try to avoid a catastrophe during emergency situations. If this man actually had a reason to worry about a fine, then in my personal opinion the state law may be partially to blame here for what happened.

Well, maybe after what happened here, the highway patrol will realize that is a bad policy, and may be increasing the likelihood of disasters like this.

That would also be the case if the man immediately pulled to the side of the road and stopped driving until the issue was dealt with, is that correct?

 

You do not get it, do you?

The "fine" is the charge for the normally two tow trucks needed to extricate the truck and trailer from the gravel trap, and then to reset it so it can be used again. This normally takes from 2-6+ hours. What, you think that the state should have to pay for this when it is something that can be easily avoided with proper training and maintenance?

And no, it is a correct policy. What, if the truck went into the trap because it was overloaded, or was poorly maintained do you really think it should just continue trucking on down the road like nothing had happened? And then 10 miles farther another emergency happened like the brakes failing yet again and killing a bus of kids? At that point the state would also be liable, as they had a chance to pull it off the road but failed to do so.

And no, pulling over on the side of the road for a few hours is not the same as pulling into a trap. If it was only brakes overheating, time is all that was needed. If it was an overloaded truck or poor maintenance, that would not solve the problem at all. No matter what, you seem obsessed with trying to show how the driver had done nothing wrong, and that nothing could have been done to prevent this from happening.

 

An interesting development, the latest update in this story:

Truckers Boycott Entire State of Colorado Over Trucker's 110 Year Prison Sentence

 

And some states boycott the entire state of Arizona. So? You are just showing even more that it is all about emotion and nothing else.

 

In my personal opinion, conservatives are going to lose a lot of votes from this complete unmercifulness.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy"
Matthew 5:7

 

OK, so this is all political then, and you really could not care about the actual law or crime itself.

Got it.

Guess what, "Mercy" does not apply when it comes to crime and the law.

 

LOL. The Governor of Colorado is a DEMOCRAT. The driver was offered a plea deal but refused it declaring he should only get a traffic ticket for killing these people. He rolled the dice and lost (yet again).

 

Whether people should suffer harsh punishment for being too stupid to accept a plea deal is another issue.

 

Truckers from coast to coast are threatening to steer clear of Colorado and not enter the state. Residents of Colorado should stock up on toilet paper.

 

civilly liable, yes, sentenced to 110 years in prison, no

 

If he was held fully civilly liable he would be bankrupt and live in poverty for the rest of his life, no matter how much money he earned, still living in poverty.
I would question exactly what that would even look like.