Could Additional Runaway Truck Ramps Prevent Fatal California Accidents?

Could Additional Runaway Truck Ramps Prevent Fatal California Accidents?

Improperly maintained, defective, or overheated brakes can lead to failure, which is very dangerous, especially on peak roads, considering the driver oftentimes loses jurisdiction of the vehicle. An 80, 000 - pound big contingent hurtling down a steep road carries a high risk of serious injury or death for not only the driver but also the occupants of surrounding vehicles. Equipping precipitous roads and highways with runaway truck ramps is one way to prevent fatal accidents. A crash that recently occurred in California illustrates how adding additional ramps could raise traffic safety in the state, explains a local attorney.
In April 2009, a semi hauling cars on its twin - decker trailer lost its brakes while approaching the final stretch of the Angeles Crest Highway, striking a car as it sped over the 210 Freeway, dragging it into a crowded intersection, and colliding with five more vehicles before ultimately clamorous into a bookstore in La Canada Flintridge. The accident claimed two lives and injured 12 people. The driver had ignored the sign prohibiting sizeable trucks from range on the elevation road, where surrounding peaks reach halfway 8, 000 feet, as well as warnings from a passing motorist that his brakes were overheating, reported the Los Angeles Times. While the trucker plainly acted negligently, once his brakes failed, a runaway truck acclivity may have prevented the tragic accident.
Many folk in the city in which the truck accident occurred were enraged when they discovered that up until recently, the highway did have an escape round. Deciding that conditions for trucks had more valuable on the road, the California Department of Transportation landscaped over the pathway, replacing a crucial safety feature with fauna on an immediate scenic highway, explains an attorney in the state.
A common feature on many elevation roads, runaway truck ramps are inclined wipe out - ramps clouded with gravel or oatmeal. When an out - of - oversight truck climbs the incline, the gravitational pull causes the vehicle to decelerate, the friction created by the raw blow in contributing to the flak. Records from 1990 test that 170 consistent ramps take place in the United States, according to an narration in Car and Driver chronology.
Fortunately, just four months after the fatal accident in La Canada Flintridge, the Lead signed AB1361, officially banning commercial vehicles with three or more axles that hash over more than 9, 000 pounds from the Angeles Crest Highway. Drivers roused on the road now face a $1, 000 fine. To set out that truckers agglutinate to the law, warning symbols were placed along the stroll.
A law prohibiting sizeable trucks from the traveling, however, will not warrant that another accident like the one that occurred in 2009 will happen. Laws are sometimes broken, and if another truck driver were descending the highway with slip brakes, only an escape campaign would prevent a serious accident.