August 15, 2006
Turnpike Accident Claims Four Lives
Four miles from the George Washington Bridge, a horrific accident involving a flatbed truck carrying bricks killed four people and injured four others on the New Jersey Turnpike - and a little 4 year old girls from Queens was the only survivor from her family's car. According to the NY Times, a flatbed truck hit cars during a traffic standstill, and then swayed from the shoulder and back across the highway lanes, pushing the car carrying the Christmas family of Astoria "under the trailer of another truck"; then the flatbed "careered over a guardrail and overturned, spilling its load of bricks onto a Toyota 4Runner S.U.V.," killing the driver, Norma Ryan of NJ. Theresa and Charles Christmas were killed, as was their 2 year old Victoria; 4 year old Theresa was taken to a hospital and is in fair condition (University Hospital in Newark says that psychologists and counselors will be helping her). The Toyota's three other passengers - Ryan's two children and Maria Rosado of the Bronx - were in critical condition.
A witness says that the flatbed truck driver noticed the stalled traffic too late, thus starting the chain reaction accident. Charges are pending, but police are investigating the flatbed truck driver, Dimitrius Tseperkas, who works for a Port Jefferson company.
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Jeez...when will those pesky Critical Mass riders stop terrorizing our streets?
That comment isn't really on topic - please stay on topic.
And I hate 18 wheeler trucks so much.
sad.
I thought the turnpike has a trucks only lane?
This guy was driving too fast, then came upon a traffic jam, all leads to bad news.
I remember when I rode my motorcycle in the rain and 18 wheelers were right next to your shoulder. One slip and I would be under those wheels.
I'm glad I'm still alive.
This country needs a seperate highway system for tractor trailers like in Germany.
Re: convoy
"I thought the turnpike has a trucks only lane?"
The NJ Turnpike changes at certain points. After the GW Bridge there are two lanes, one express and teh other is local. After exit 14 I believe, continuing south, the 'Cars Only' and 'Trucks and Cars' lanes appear. Further down just past 8a it all merges.
There is no 'Trucks Only' lane or section. As a general rule (or law) on most NJ highways, trucks are supposed to stay out of the left-most lane.
However, aside all of this, the only thing that would have prevented this would have been an attentive driver in that cab.
Enough with the critical mass comments. You think you're being clever, but you're not.
This might sound absurd but I do hope that the driver of the truck, who will most likely suffer from severe depression after something like this, might find his way into telling others his story in hopes of avoiding this type of disaster in the future. Don’t people learn from others? Can’t we warn people based on experiences? Doesn’t this help the people living with the pain every day?
I am a huge proponent of people teaching others about what they did wrong and how had they made one small change things could have been so, so different. Imagine living with this? I simply cannot.
"Don’t people learn from others?"
That would only be the 'wise' people. I don't think there are many of those around on this greasy ball of dirt.
You do have a good suggestion though, mihow.
It would be interesting if the health departments or police would conduct more indepth investigations into all the factors that might help prevent crashes (note I do not say accidents, because many so-called "accidents" have predictable causes). After every accident I wonder about but never hear: was the driver distracted? Using a cell phone, handsfree or not? any prior accidents? Number of hours in the truck? When was their last defensive driving class? Etc.
Inevitably there are phrases like "no charges filed" or "pending lab results" but very little follow-up or systematic analysis to inform public policy. This would be a great investigative news piece...
IMHO, regular driving tests for everyone (2-5 years) either written or practical would help save hundreds if not thousands of lives a year, and reduce car insurance premiums too.
I agree with your suggestions, however, all the driver's tests in the world won't stop someone rushing. Nine times out of ten these accidents happen because someone is in too much of a hurry. People drive carelessly millions of times each day; fortunately, they don't all end in mind-blowing tragedies.
I can't tell you the number of times I have learned through the experience of someone else. Two friends of mine died while driving drunk in high school. I never once drove drunk. My teacher died of AIDS from being careless. I wasn't careless.
I'd like to think that if this guy could he might step out and tell people his story. Maybe some association could set him up as a safety spokesperson? Maybe this act would be therapy for him? Surely, he’ll need it.
Hell, a firsthand account would kill me. I watched The Machinist a few years ago and that freaking movie haunts me to this day.
I dunno.
Maybe you people should stop beleiving everything you read in the papers. I personally know the driver of that truck. He is devastated by what happened. He was not "rushing" as you put it, as he is one of the safest drivers I know. He was not "overweight" as the papers write. Don't always beleive everything you read in the press, they get paid to make the story sensational. An accident is just that : an accident. Unfortunately, many people will suffer for the rest of their lives..as for the driver, he will relive this nightmare every day of his life. As for his side of the story, in this sue happy world, I am sure he has been advised to not talk to the press at this time. WHy would he want to? No matter what he would say, someone would still make him out to be some horrible nasty, careless, trucker. This guy is one of the sweetest people I know. I, unlike the rest of the people on this post, will be there for him whenever he needs me...
i also know the driver of that truck, and the comments made are true to my knowledge also, about how great of a guy he is and i believe from my experience with him(working on his truck)that he was not overweight and he wasn't in a rush although i was not able to talk to him since it happened. i've done work on his truck when loaded and he is never in a hurry and never ever is worried about how much it costs to make the truck safe so why dont you people back off and wait for the investigation to come to an end it was an accident and thats all. and you have no right to say he was doing something wrong and to point fingers, unless of course your perfect and im almost certain that none of you are. and if the driver gets to read this or someone who knows him tell him that he better come back us sometime we still owe him and side kick dinner. WE HOPE EVERYTHING WORKS OUT GOOD LUCK
Jeez...when will those pesky Critical Mass riders stop terrorizing our streets?
When you stop demanding so much goods.
we simply must get the cops onto these
dangerous truckers...speed and lane
changes kill 6000 each year and injur
150,000 every year...yet go onto any
interestate and 9 out of 10 truckers
are driving 10-20 miles OVER the limit
and remember thats with 90,000 pound
flying down the road...they can't stop
they are usually so sleepy from driving
20 hours a day that they are very
impared....I just don't know why the
public isn't bitching more...its way
out of control...I agree with guy above
we need a speical highway system for
them alone...I dread to get onto the
highway because of them...please
call your legislators....thanks Cody
It's only legal for truckers to work 10 hours a day and they are required to take breaks.. and as far as driving 10-20 mph over the limit, most trucks (85% or more) are governed, with a top speed of 70-75mph .. and if they drive they fast they get very poor fuel mileage the ideal speed for a truck is somewhere around 58-62 mph for fuel mileage, and they get incentives for saving company fuel..
I'm a state trooper, and I'd personally rather drive around big rigs all day than a group of cars, when stopped most car drivers claim they have no idea they made an infraction. So that tells me they are distracted, what else did they miss? To be honest anymore I'm scared to make a traffic stop, not because the person I'm stopping is going to hurt me but the person with the cell phone doing 85 in a 65 is going to clip me when I'm conducting my investigation.
that's not true for all trucks, some can get betterMPG and others will not.
as far as top speed....most trucks are governed at or a little ABOVE the common 65MPH most commonly company trucks, not all O/O (owner/operator).
Most veteran truckers know when its time for a break, yet most wrecks involve the newer drivers.
and for all you truck haters 70% of truck crashes (truck alone) are caused by cars moving or getting right in front of the bumper....i've witnessed this too many times..you all need to watch what the **** your doing and stop blaming the ***** trucks.
one last note....the truckers usually speed when it feel like there doing 20MPH with other cars(most of the time) doing 95MPH+
That's my story and I'm sticking to it !