Some of you may have seen the video of the fuel tanker crash in Baltimore. Allow me to say this;
Last edited Sat Dec 17, 2016, 10:50 PM - Edit history (1)
You may have seen this video of the multi-car pile-up on I95 in Baltimore last night, a stretch of road I have driven tractor trailers over dozens of times over my career. The video has apparently gone viral. Here's my perspective as an Over-the-road trucker for almost 30 years;
That tanker driver was indeed killed, and he gave his life to save perhaps dozens of others involved in the ongoing accident scene.
It's apparent from the video that an icy road condition was extant and a situation where vehicle after vehicle was crashing into an essentially blocked road. If you have never been in such a situation, allow me to give you an idea of what went through that tanker drivers mind in the seconds before the crash....
He rounds a bend doing at or near the speed limit on a road that he thought still offered grip to his tires should he need it. He knew it was cold, but roadways take much longer than the ground next to the road to freeze because they are;
1) black in color typically and retain heat from the day , and
b) the fact that cars and trucks drive over it constantly can contribute to lessening icy conditions, not to mention the assumption that salt trucks would have passed already.
He rounds the curve and sees the road is completely blocked with crashed cars. He gets on the brakes only to find nothing. Squat. nada. Bupkiss.
He has two choices; Drive straight into the crashed cars, possibly (likely) killing a bunch of people or try and use the barrier to his left to stop the truck. Since the rotation of his tires means he is likely to climb the barrier no matter what he does, he takes the choice anyway, KNOWING IT COULD VERY POSSIBLY result in his truck being destroyed and a fireball being produced.
That's the choice he made. Trust me when I say this - running straight into a pile of cars would have been a safer alternative for him because they would crush and slow his truck down in a more predictable way. But there were people there, climbing out of their own recently crashed cars and trucks.
That tanker driver gave his life to save others. That's a fucking hero, any way you want to look at it.
The Police in this country constantly remind us of this MYTH that they do an extremely dangerous job, but every single list of the most dangerous jobs has ME as a trucker looking DOWN THE LIST 4 or 5 spots to find "Law Enforcement Officer".
There is no "Trucker Down" website memorializing drivers who did the same thing this guy did, day in and day out. There are no highway overpasses or stretches of interstate named after the doubles driver who put his rig into the woods to save the lives of the mom who wasn't paying attention while driving the minivan full of kids . There are no big parades of thousands of truckers when one of them uses years of skill to avoid killing a score of folks stranded in a white-out situation.
Roughly 4 million men and women are OTR drivers in this country and they make your life possible. That guy was simply on his way to deliver gas to a gas station. Doing his job.
And it killed him. May he go gently, and have following winds.
= new reply since forum marked as read
He's been doing this about 6 months now and loves the cross country runs. Though he stays more to the south now because of snow 
thanks
RIP
I bought a bus to use during the BP oil spill. I couldn't wait to sell it. Driving something big and heavy around little economy cars that zip in front and slow to try to move over another lane while assuming you are going to stop. Or the ones who want to keep you from changing lanes. Too many close calls.
yes, truth. 
A hero indeed!
Horrifying video. My father was a farmer for many years, until the 80's farm crisis drove him out. He eventually ended up driving truck. He taught me to respect the trucks on the road and to always, always give them their space.
Several years ago, my husband and I were on the interstate following behind a truck. A car came past us and the truck in front and, as I've seen people do so often, they pulled back in RIGHT in front of the truck. In fact, they didn't even get past him and he ran into the back of their car. All my husband and I saw from the rear was a lot of sparks and lights. We stopped after the crash to check on everyone (we were terrified that we were going to see some awful stuff) and to give the police our report. It was a car with 3 or 4 teenagers. One of them was in the back seat and after seeing the car, I can't believe he wasn't killed or seriously hurt. The entire back end of the car was smashed in. Thankfully, everyone was ok, but it was a scary-ass thing to see.
This video reminds me a bit of the horrifying video from a pile up in (I think) Wyoming a few years ago during snowy weather. Truck after truck and car after car smashing and piling up - all caught on video.
May this truck driver rest in peace.
I'm afraid to ask ... 
Trailers like this are not uncommon at all and in fact are used regularly for loads that exceed 53'
What many companies and owner operators that haul flatbeds like that do install is what's known as a "Headache Rack" mounted behind the tractor cab like this;
Many have facilities to hang load chains and binders as well as storage boxes for tools, etc.
(Not sure f you're a driver, but if so I don't mean to tell you what you probably already know)
seen or known about this - but am so very grateful I read your post. You honored him well - thank you.
And thank you for telling us about something we might have little knowledge of - truckers and dangerous jobs. Bless you and all who do this job.
❤️ 
Lots of respect for truckers.
Actually they taught us this in high school as part of our highway safety/drivers ed classes. They even had visuals showing what truckers can see based on where cars are driving in their blind spots and how the runaway truck sandpiles work and lots of other situations like rollover on turns and how it takes longer for truckers to stop.
And they did show us several true stories of truckers giving their own lives to save others.
Truckers move America forward
