Trucker John Doe was finishing up a regular run, pulling a reefer just a short way out from the last stop for local delivery in Nashville. The stop was at Mama Mia’s Perfect Pizza Joint, a weekly point for him the last six months. He'd been there just six days prior, with the same trailer, same truck, virtually the same load.
Yet when he turned into the parking lot he heard a strange twang! and stopped to find a telephone line now laying on the ground behind the rig.
The story is the among the latest in Overdrive sister publication CCJ's "Preventable or Not?" video series, detailing crash preventability scenarios that have been analyzed by the National Safety Council's accident review committee. As in other cases featured in the CCJ series, Doe's accident was judged to be preventable by his carrier's safety department, but he appealed to the NSC for the final determination. Watch the video above to find out where the committee landed.
And what do you say? Did they get it right in this case?
[Related: Fog-blind trucker veers into concrete barrier to miss oncoming, swerving rig: Preventable?]
Trucker John Doe was pulling a pizza-laden refrigerated trailer toward Nashville. Five miles ahead was Doe’s next delivery point – Mama Mia’s Perfect Pizza Joint.
Having routinely made deliveries to Mama Mia’s for six months with the same trailer and load weight, Doe turned into the parking lot and, TWANG!
Stopping to determine the cause of the strange noise, he was met with the disheartening sight of a broken telephone line laying on the ground. Mama Mia told Doe that the phone company had been tinkering with the lines the previous day. Clearly the hill-fated line had been lowered, albeit not too noticeably.
Since Doe contested the preventable accident warning letter he received from his safety director, the National Safety Council’s accident review committee was asked to settle the controversy. NSC ruled in Doe’s favor, noting that he had no visual warning of danger.
