The Accident After The Accident

By Frederick C. Clark, ARM
Vice President

Each of the following major accidents was preceded by a relatively minor accident or incident. Examples one and two involved an “after” accident in which the professional driver was initially involved. In the remaining examples, the accidents occurred at scenes that the driver came upon later.

Fatal Forward Roll

Bang! Tom was driving along the interstate when a small Toyota pick-up truck changed lanes, making contact with his right front bumper. The two drivers pulled onto the shoulder to exchange license and insurance information. Mary parked her pick-up in front of Tom’s tractor trailer. Mary got out first and walked between the two vehicles. As Tom was walking toward Mary, the tractor trailer rolled forward, making contact with Mary and the pick-up. Mary sustained fatal injuries. Then Tom was arrested and jailed.

Tire Troubles

Jane was in the final leg of her four-day tour of duty when a fellow “CB-er” told her smoke was coming from the right rear tires of her trailer. Since she was just coming up to the crest of a hill, Jane pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway at the top of the hill. As she walked to the back of the trailer with fire extinguisher in hand, the tractor trailer rolled won the other side of the hill and ended its descent in the family room of a house. The family of four, who had been watching TV, sustained major injuries including one fatality.

Forgetting Proves Fatal

Bill was parking on the shoulder of the highway and feeling luck that he had not been injured when a deer “glanced” off the side of his car. He set his blinkers and was getting out of the car to inspect the damage. Meanwhile, Steve noticed an erratic movement of the car half a mile ahead, but it moved off to the shoulder. He momentarily forgot about the car. It was dusk and Steve’s tractor trailer was in the right land traveling at the speed limit. All of a sudden, CRASH! Bill’s car was not off onto the shoulder as both drivers had thought. Bill sustained fatal injuries. Steve was arrested and went to prison.

Not Cautious Enough

“Multi-car crash on I-5 West…be ready for delays,” warned the radio announcer. In his emergency vehicle Willy pulled up to the accident scene and stepped from the van. Sara had just left the terminal with a load of corn syrup heading west on I-5. She noticed up ahead the accident she had heard about on the radio. As she slowed to 45 mph and prepared to pass the accident scene, Willy stepped from the van into the path of her tractor trailer. Willy sustained fatal injuries, and Sara was arrested and jailed.

Plan Ahead

Accidents develop rapidly and are challenging at best. The only way to manage these accidents is to plan ahead and have procedures in place. These procedures should be written and practiced in advance.

Steps For Written Procedures

At Your Accident Scene

• Protect the area
• Notify authorities
• Care for the injured
• Park away from the traffic lane
• Stop and secure your truck brakes, gears and chocks. Steering tires should be turned away from traffic; use reflective triangles and/or flashers. Make sure others can see you. If you cannot be seen, is this a safe place to stop?

At Others’ Accident Scene

• Re-routing?
• Proper passing speed?
• Proper passing lane?
• When should you stop?

If an accident occurs, do not let it become a larger accident. Plan, practice and implement procedures that train drivers to properly manage their actions if an accident or incident comes their way.

Frederick Clark has a BS degree in Chemistry and over 30 years of experience in the safety, health and environmental field. He has gained expertise in many aspects of personal and fleet safety and loss control management. He serves the fleet safety needs and distribution-related needs of clients by providing training, assessments, risk analyses, and other loss prevention programs.

XL Environmental • Risk Control Division • 520 Eagleview Boulevard, PO Box 636, Exton, PA 19341 • Phone: 800-327-1414 • Fax: 610-458-7285 • xlenvironmental.com

XL Environmental is a division of XL Specialty Insurance Company.