Truck barrels into rush hour traffic - 2 dead, 16 injured

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - 'He kept... hitting cars'

Let me get my callous, uncaring moment out of the way. LOL @ article title. Ok, now I'll act like I care about my fellow human for the rest of this writing.

I was thinking about posting this one to the newsgroups, but then I thought about S&DDAM's response...

"Give that MURDERING speeder in that missile of death the CHAIR! Heh-heh-heh. The CHAIR! Heh-heh-heh, heh-heh, heh-heh."

...and I decided to make it blog material only and let someone else draw the stupidity out. That and Google Groups doesn't allow for a killfile.

...Anyway.

Without warning, a big rig plowed into stop-and-go traffic on Highway 40 (or I-64, if you prefer - I'll use the local vernacular). The driver of the truck is being questioned. Two are dead. Another 16 were injured.

The investigators aren't elaborating on a cause yet, but they don't think it was drinking or drugs. They don't think it was the ongoing roadwork on 40, either. So what was it then? Blowout? Brake failure? Did the accelerator stick? We don't know yet. There's one theory I have, though. Truckers have been hit EXTREMELY hard by fuel prices lately, so hard that some are gambling the truck holds up for a week in order to get the most from their pay. (The rest are just praying.) It wouldn't be unheard of for one to skimp on maintenance to save a buck in these trying times. (Though, that's not to say all do. I hate stereotyping.)

They also said no video was recorded, though MoDOT employees did see it happen on video. Shoddy. That could have helped to unravel the "why" in this tragedy. Instead, what's left amounts to eyewitness testimony... somewhat reliable, but it can be blown away like a road sign on a rural Louisiana highway.

Still, the trucker survived. Better to have the person who was actually driving available to question. There's a good chance they'll be able to get to the bottom of this due to that stroke of luck.

Pity the same stroke of luck worked against the two dead.

Edit: I'm labeling this under "Reckless Driving" now, since it turns out a cellphone may have been a factor. - T