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The drivers aren't doing it purposely. They have been driving for 16 hours, are in an unfamiliar city, and are almost asleep at the wheel.

by Kluny 13y ago

gsnedders 13y ago
16 hours!? Wow. The EU has a legal maximum of 10 hours per day — and that's only allowed twice a week, ordinarily 9 hours, with at least 45 minutes break every 45 minutes.
- acqq 13y ago
  And the trucks are controlled, still drivers manage to trick the regulators: "I'll drive your shift now you'll get mine once" etc.
mikeash 13y ago
If you deliberately put yourself in a situation where you're operating a machine without the mental faculties you need to do it safely, then I think we can safely say that you deliberately caused the accident, even though you may not have thought, in so many words, "I think I'll go cause an accident now."
- dsego 13y ago
  People are probably more afraid of losing their jobs. They also probably think it won't happen to them.
  - thatswrong0 13y ago
    I doubt the driver was scared of losing his job. I would say that the blame may fall, in part, on the company. I have a friend who owns a business which does a lot of trucking. If they work overtime, these drivers can make $70k+ a year (including benefits, health). For a job with few qualifications needed, that's pretty good. A lot of businesses in the area actually have too few truckers. Anyway, the point is that by working overtime you can make a good living being a driver. This is why you can find so many truck drivers drivin tired. As such, there are strict rules in place at my friend's business that prevent drivers from driving for too many hours / too many hours without a break. With GPS and whatnot, this is quite easy to monitor and enforce. As a result, along with other rules and superb maintenance, my friend's business has a superb safety record. There is still the occasional accident (can't stop 'em all), but something like this incident has never occurred.
  - PeterisP 13y ago
    Well, if people are deliberately endagering lives of others for fear of losing their jobs; then maybe we should ensure that they'll fear the legal consequences more than their boss? For example, if you temporarily take away the truck drivers licence as a punishment for driving too many hours without rest (as EU does, for example), then they'll make sure that they don't drive without rest, since they will definitely lose their driving jobs if they do.

The drivers aren't doing it purposely. They have been driving for 16 hours, are in an unfamiliar city, and are almost asleep at the wheel.

by Kluny 13y ago

The drivers aren't doing it purposely. They have been driving for 16 hours, are in an unfamiliar city, and are almost asleep at the wheel.

gsnedders 13y ago

16 hours!? Wow. The EU has a legal maximum of 10 hours per day — and that's only allowed twice a week, ordinarily 9 hours, with at least 45 minutes break every 45 minutes.

acqq 13y ago
And the trucks are controlled, still drivers manage to trick the regulators: "I'll drive your shift now you'll get mine once" etc.

mikeash 13y ago

If you deliberately put yourself in a situation where you're operating a machine without the mental faculties you need to do it safely, then I think we can safely say that you deliberately caused the accident, even though you may not have thought, in so many words, "I think I'll go cause an accident now."

dsego 13y ago
People are probably more afraid of losing their jobs. They also probably think it won't happen to them.
- thatswrong0 13y ago
  I doubt the driver was scared of losing his job. I would say that the blame may fall, in part, on the company. I have a friend who owns a business which does a lot of trucking. If they work overtime, these drivers can make $70k+ a year (including benefits, health). For a job with few qualifications needed, that's pretty good. A lot of businesses in the area actually have too few truckers. Anyway, the point is that by working overtime you can make a good living being a driver. This is why you can find so many truck drivers drivin tired. As such, there are strict rules in place at my friend's business that prevent drivers from driving for too many hours / too many hours without a break. With GPS and whatnot, this is quite easy to monitor and enforce. As a result, along with other rules and superb maintenance, my friend's business has a superb safety record. There is still the occasional accident (can't stop 'em all), but something like this incident has never occurred.
- PeterisP 13y ago
  Well, if people are deliberately endagering lives of others for fear of losing their jobs; then maybe we should ensure that they'll fear the legal consequences more than their boss? For example, if you temporarily take away the truck drivers licence as a punishment for driving too many hours without rest (as EU does, for example), then they'll make sure that they don't drive without rest, since they will definitely lose their driving jobs if they do.