Boycott Colorado.

From what I hear his brake failed and the drive is not at fualt

Dave winters did you not watch the video he passed several runaway ramps and ignored all of them there's absolutely no excuse for what he did he wasn't innocent he made a choice and that choice cost innocent lives there was signals signs and every opportunity to stop that truck and he willfully ignored all of it

Art you are correct! Dave, I also see merit in your comments. I drove 25 years and over 3 million miles. I got myself in some hairy situations on the mountains but with some help from above, I NEVER had to make a decission on what to do. I feel like there just is not enough training done to adequately prepare the younger drivers for the problems that can and will arise. I can not and will not speculate what was going through the driver's mind as he was flying down the road out of control, BUT i can guarantee that he was not thinking that things were going to end up like they did! We can all sit here and play arm chair quarterback and say "he had chances to stop" or criticize for not taking the runaway ramp, but unless you are the driver himself, there are no answers as to why or why not this ride went down the way it did.

Be safe out there and Merry Christmas to all!

Keith

ET Trucking

I had to make that call many years ago going west bound my brakes failed as well I took the runaway ramp that was no fun way to stop but im still here to share it with y'all. I have more miles on the steep grades than i want to discuss. Every trip feels like the first time i would never want to be so comfortable with hills that i lose respect for the hill. With that said many times i have passed the runaway ramps with no problems going on and then the breaks start to heat up.

for any of you that have never hauled a heavy load on a steep down grade when your brakes get to hot they will glaze over then they will no longer stop the vehicle.

my opinion

Maybe his breaks were glazed, also did his truck have a jake break some company trucks dont have them, they also estimated that he was only doing 85 mph if he was going faster than that he would have laid it over on the curves long before the impacted sight.

this is a sad and tragic situation my heart goes out to the families that lost a loved one. I feel that the sentence is way to harsh, the families even testified in his defense after his sentence.

How stupid do you gotta be to not understand what a ruanaway ramp how stupid do you gotta be to not realize you've lost control and your about to kill somebody how stupid do you gotta be to see the ramps and ignore them even the one that is so close all you gotta do is turn the wheel a quarter turn the language barrier is not an issue here since all instruments in commercial vehicles are the same no matter where you go stop with the stupid excuses for this retard

You obviously are stupid I watched the video in the courtroom he understands English just fine there's no excuse for intentional vehicular manslaughter in an 18 wheeler

I have been nothing other than courteous and respectfull with Mr. Powell all the way through this thread, now he chooses to throw insults and call people names? It appears that Mr.Powell is in the habit of bulling others who disagree with him, yet would like us all to believe that he is a warm and compasionate human being who cares deeply about the four people that lost their lives in this accident? We should all keep in mind that any one of us could loose control and be involved in a deadly accident in the future, due to Icy roads, fog, blinding snow or equipment failure, and Mr.powell and guys just like him would be there to throw all of of us, his own colleagues under the bus. Isn't that a warm and fuzzy feeling? Please keep that in mind when you all are out there negotiating rates.

My recolection of the crash is the driver missed a downshift at the top and was unable to get the truck back in gear. The brakes failed because he was coming down the hill in neutral, standing on the brakes. Regarding the sentence, I know of numerous cases involving vehicular homicide where whole families have been wiped out where the suspect got nowhere near the sentence in this case. Last but not least, most state prison sentences are served at a ratio, for instance, every day served you get credit for 7, The ony 1 for 1 that I know of is federal time.

I don't thing we should get all worked up over the sentence because Kim Cardashien (did I spell it right?) is demanding the sentence be reduced, and let's face, it Kim gets what Kim wants....

Maybe Mr. Powell had way too much caffeine in his system when he was commenting in this thread, or hopefully just having a bad few days. Either way, he did in my opinion seem way too anrgy over a situation that had zero affect on him personally. I wonder if he gets equally as angry every time a drunk driver kills someone, or when people are gunned down every day in citys across the country? If he does, he must be a very angry individual..

I do know this, The driver involved found himslef in a situaton way above his skill level. He gambled and lost. Accidents happen or tragedy strikes in this country every day. No amount of government regulation, laws, or enforcement will change it. It is up to the individual to make the right choice at the right moment, and a little luck doesn't hurt either. I believe most of us, if not all would have chosen differently and taken our chances with running off the highway to save others. Unfortunately he made the wrong choice and has to suffer the consequences. I feel sorry for the driver, I'm sure he didn't get up that morning thinking, "let's see how bad I can mess up today". I also feel for the families who lost loved ones, as well as those injured or merely found themselves tangled up in the mess that day.

On a lighter note, the big lesson here is: don't drive a Freightliner. Peterbilt..."Class Pays" (just kidding)

Now, can we get back to the real reason this forum exists....Bashing Dispatchers?!!!!

Or maybe you need to open your eyes and wake up I'm sick of ignorant drivers making dumb mistakes and then acting like nothing happened or they had no idea what they were doing I didn't go to a truck driving school I learned the old fashioned way and I know for a fact you can't get a cdl or even a drivers license without having an understanding of the rules of the road and what the signs mean I'm not angry or full of hate I'm just tired of dumb people pretending to be drivers

I used to be a police officer so it goes without saying that yes all of those scenarios you just mentioned make me angry because it's preventable and only happens because someone thinks they are above the law and laws don't apply to them so they drink and drive or pick up a gun and take innocent lives because no one has accountability anymore no one is properly punished for their bad decisions anymore the legal system is a joke and many many people die because it just doesn't work and when it does work they go crazy because they think the punishment is to harsh as we used to say in the Military you play stupid games you win stupid prizes wake up people

From what I read this will be going under-review, so the sentence should get modified.

The Guy was speeding thru the construction zone 85 in a 45 had very little experience could not read or speak english and killed 4 people and injured 28. The judge gave him the minimum sentence on every charge. Now the Guv steps in and the guy will be out driving again before 10 years. He had multiple opportunity's to ditch the truck, but instead chose to pile drive the stopped traffic. The fact is the Fmcsa eliminated the english speaking law years ago and allowed the big box company's to put non experienced drivers on the road. This has lead to the multiple pile ups on the highway today. But don't fear I just read that after multiple study's by the same goverment (millions later). They have learned that it is the small company's and independents that cause all the kaos. I am not against new drivers I once was one I am however for safety and believe that training time and english speaking should be top priority if we want to stop this madness.