If you have ever driven over the Cajon Pass in California you know that it is a winding, climbing slog of a drive to get over if you are in anything underpowered. Even if you are in something with some guts, the transmission spends plenty of time hunting for the right gear as you try to maintain speed and climb over the pass. Apparently the driver of this Peterbilt truck thought it was just another day at the office when his rig was hunkered down and working hard to pull itself up the hill. It wasn’t Why? The Peterbuilt dragged a Maxima that was hooked to its rear bumper at least four miles before stopping!
We’re going to guess that the driver of the Maxima failed on a lane change while approaching the truck with a pretty good head of steam because otherwise we cannot figure out how the whole business got “the beans above the frank” on the rear wheels of the dump trailer.
The video is wild because it is shot by a motorist who came upon the scene as he was making his way up the pass as well. The driver of the car is motioning wildly as he comes by and for obvious reasons. Incredulous, the guy filming stops at the cab of the truck and asked the driver why he was not stopping despite the fact that he was grinding a Mitsubishi into dust. The driver responds, basically saying he had no idea the guy was back there. Is that possible? We’re actually going to say “maybe”.
Assuming the truck had bee on the gentle right hand curving part of the road for a while his driver’s side mirror would be aimed away from the body of the truck and aimed across the highway towards the outside lanes. We find it hard to believe that no one would have told him something was up before hand and the smoke was pretty heavy as well. Lastly there’s the fact that the truck had to have been working harder than normal with a ton and a half of non-rolling Nissan dragging it down.
The cops must have had a field day with this one!
Pretty sure he knew, and he is a crazy sadistic bastard. Assuming his company doesn’t do drug testing. He would definitely feel an impact like that.
Don’t be so sure.
Years ago, I followed a tanker down I-70 into Denver from Genesee Park & both trailer tandems were engulfed in flames. A strong wind was blowing up the canyon & all the smoke & flames were straight behind the trailer. I got on the CB (this was the mid-80s) & told him he need to stop before he got past the runaway truck ramp, which he did. He had to have gone several miles that way.
If this driver didn’t look back at the right time, it is entirely possible (particularly with a double) he couldn’t see the car.
I used to be a truck mechanic & a load of bad fuel will make a truck pull hard. Cali doesn’t have particularly good fuel, so he may have thought he had some crappy fuel.
Don’t be to quick to point fingers.
I drive truck, and I can’t imagine going 4 miles that slow and not glancing in the mirrors. Those are short doubles, and he isn’t turned hard enough to have the car in his blind spot. The car is mangled pretty bad, so it had to be a hard hit. I can feel the trailer axles when they go over a baseball sized rock or curb let alone getting plowed into by a sedan. Trucker is trying to teach the guy a lesson for being a reckless driver, drunk or high as a kite.
Drugs are bad, m’kay
Thanks for keeping a open mind on whether he knew it was there Bang Shift . Unlike some of the response .
Six days on a the road and I’m gonna make it home tonight!
stubby mirrors, double tandem.. I bet it looked like a tailgater. Nothing to feel from the back trailer on tandems.
What I don\’t like is it takes one truck or to give all of us a bad name.
If you read the news story, the CHP says he was dragged maybe 1 mile, not 4.
They let the truck driver drive away, as there was go evidence or suspicion of being on drugs or drunk. I’m familiar with the Cajon Pass and the car approached the truck at a speed probably close to double of the truck.