We Have Had 2 Serious Collision Accidents, 1fatality Accident At Marten Transport This Month,

The title of the post says it all. There have been alot of pile up collisions this winter, most recently in WI and earlier in Jan near the KS/CO border on the 70. This winter has been brutal for truck accidents. I am not sure if it was covered here already or not but Marten did not come through this unscathed either. Earlier in Jan we had two serious accidents back to back over the 3 day MLK Jr day holiday weekend. The first involved a semi/trailer roll over where the 16 year old operator of the car was KIA on site when the trailer rolled over on top of his vehicle, his friends were also injured severly. The second was less than 24 hours after the fleet wide message went out alerting us of the tragedy and another driver apparently did not even try to stop at a red light and rear ended a minivan into oncoming intersection traffic causing serious harm and injury (no fatalities in the second accident from what I was told).

My fleet manager reached out to me personally via phone on MLK day (a Monday) to go over them with me and wanted to thank me for being a safe attentive driver and to answer any questions I may have had about the communications regarding the accidents. I didnt have any questions or concerns really, I felt sad and shaken up by the news of the tragic loss of life (16 year old boy) and the injuries. I also noticed a higher than usual amount of Semi wrecks and incidents on the roadways this month , particularly in WY, NB. I think in those states folks tend to get complacent because of how open and boring it is. But the weather can change on you in a heart beat out in those states. The cause of the accidents were deemed inattentive/distracted driving. I cant say for sure what was the distraction, I hope not a cell phone in a hand, but the cause dosent matter. What does matter is 9 people total were seriously hurt, 1 young man died before his life could even get started and now Marten has to deal with fall out from Insurance, FMCSA and state and local authorities. Undoubtdly law suits and potential criminal charges could be incoming.

I realize I do not post much on the forum, truth be told I haven't had or made time to do so, when I am running out there at the end of the day my focus is on self care (good meal, rest and relaxing to prepare for 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night) in order to minimize my being invovled in something like this. I have also taken a closer look at better trip planning (knowing where I will stop at night exactly) and minimizing distractions while on the road (looking at or adjusting controls on the gps , etc) . That can be just as distracting too.

I wanted to lastly wish you all safety on the road, please think of your own safety and the motoring public's first and foremost. If there is ice, black ice, a severe blizzard , OR you are fatigued and having a hard time staying awake ; what ever - then I would like you to please JUST PARK and remain parked until the bad weather passes or you fell better to driver.. YES your dispatch may be upset at times, YES the appointment will or may have to be rescheduled which means you may have to do a split or something, but frankly the risk of a couple hundred dollar late fee is miniscule compared to the very real consequences of what can happen in bad weather or fatigue. I know that no one on this forum would do it, but I have seen many drivers from all sorts of carriers (even my own) driving with cell phone in hand. I try not to be a cop or nothing but if I can safely get there attention I do and and make the appropriate hand gestures telling them to put it down. Often times it works, sometimes they get mad and wave me off.

The calls and texts can wait and if need be so can the freight.

Be safe out there everyone and I hope that 2023 is starting off the best it can for each of you personally.

Happy (belated) New Year!

Moe

Right back at ya Moe! Be safe man! 👍

It's great to hear from you Moe!

I just want to add something I've observed over the years. We certainly associate bad weather with bad truck accidents - snow and ice have serious effects on the conditions we rely on to keep us safe. But... beware of the pleasant sunny afternoon when it seems you haven't a care in the world. Those were the conditions when I had my worst close call of nearly being involved in a serious trucking accident. There's just no time out here immune to trouble. It can pop up unexpectedly at any time.