Truck Driver Gets 110 Years For Claiming The Lives Of Four People.

[Ray From Cleveland]

Meanwhile, the South Dakota AG doesn't even get jail time for killing someone.

An Attorney General Won't Serve Any Jail Time For A Crash That Killed A Pedestrian

Jason Ravnsborg pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges, avoiding jail time despite complaints from the victim's family that he was being too lightly punished for actions they called "inexcusable."

www.npr.org

Hell you can get less than 10 years in prison for a DUI that kills four people.

 

[colfax_m]

Hell you can get less than 10 years in prison for a DUI that kills four people.

Mandatory sentencing laws are a joke. This is exactly the reason for discretion.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Mandatory sentencing laws are a joke. This is exactly the reason for discretion.

Yeah. It takes the power away from a judge to judge. Perhaps he'll take it to appeals and have it greatly knocked down. He got into something he wasn't prepared for, not a mad killer looking to kill people.

 

[colfax_m]

Yeah. It takes the power away from a judge to judge. Perhaps he'll take it to appeals and have it greatly knocked down. He got into something he wasn't prepared for, not a mad killer looking to kill people.

His only chance is to have the court to declare the mandatory sentencing law unconstitutional. Judges can't legislate.

 

[EvMetro]

Go here for the story.

Remind me again why the punishment is labeled in such a way. The driver is 26 now. I am guessing that parole is possible at some point.

God bless you and the families of the victims always!!!

Holly

We will likely know the truth on this one. If his brakes truly failed, I could see where it would be easy to not take a runaway truck ramp, but there is more to it than that. Some big carriers do not equip their trucks with Jake brakes at all, so the drivers have nothing to rely on but the regular friction brakes like cars have. This would also mean the driver is responsible to drive a much slower speed than posted in order to not cook his brakes.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

We will likely know the truth on this one. If his brakes truly failed, I could see where it would be easy to not take a runaway truck ramp, but there is more to it than that. Some big carriers do not equip their trucks with Jake brakes at all, so the drivers have nothing to rely on but the regular friction brakes like cars have. This would also mean the driver is responsible to drive a much slower speed than posted in order to not cook his brakes.

I seriously doubt any carrier would send a driver into the mountains in a vehicle with no engine brakes. Even rentals have engine breaks these days.

 

[EvMetro]

I seriously doubt any carrier would send a driver into the mountains in a vehicle with no engine brakes. Even rentals have engine breaks these days.

I wish you were right.

 

[OKTexas]

Overheating brakes is only a problem for people too stupid to downshift their transmission going downhill.

Yeah, maybe we should stop all commiecrats from getting drivers licenses.

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[Ray From Cleveland]

Yeah, maybe we should stop all commiecrats from getting drivers licenses.

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What we really need to do is stop all foreigners from getting licenses unless they pass a CDL test here in the US.

 

[OKTexas]

What we really need to do is stop all foreigners from getting licenses unless they pass a CDL test here in the US.

I passed a CDL test and it had nothing to do with mountain driving or the use of engine breaks.

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[Ray From Cleveland]

I passed a CDL test and it had nothing to do with mountain driving or the use of engine breaks.

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No but from what I understand of our other drivers who took the test more recently, they ask the driver to explain all functions of the truck and how to use them.

 

[OKTexas]

No but from what I understand of our other drivers who took the test more recently, they ask the driver to explain all functions of the truck and how to use them.

Don't know about that, I took the test in 03.

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[Ray From Cleveland]

Don't know about that, I took the test in 03.

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Mine was in the mid 90's. Back then they made us do a reverse serpentine. They laid out a bunch of cones in a straight line and you had to make the trailer move to the right of one and to the left of the next and so on. I think they got rid of it because for one, it was stupid. You're never going to have to use it and two, a lot of people hit the cones and failed the test. I don't even know if they do the parallel parking anymore. They should because that's what you have to do sometimes at a rest area to get a spot.

 

[Wild Bill Kelsoe]

No matter how good they work there is no reason to allow that truck to go down the road at 80 mph. An experienced driver would have assumed the brakes were heating up, pulled off the road before they became disabled, and allowed them to cool off for about a half-hour or so.

I don't believe his brakes failed from overheating. I think the stopping distance he had was too short for the speed he was traveling at. I don't think he was doing 80 mph because he couldn't slow down. He was doing 80 mph because he was just lettin'er rip.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I don't believe his brakes failed from overheating. I think the stopping distance he had was too short for the speed he was traveling at. I don't think he was doing 80 mph because he couldn't slow down. He was doing 80 mph because he was just lettin'er rip.

That's not what's being reported. I don't know how much lumber weighs, but I'd say at most 25,000 lbs. I've come to a screeching halt carrying 35,000. If you watched the video you can see him losing control of the vehicle long before the crash. The moron kept breaking with his regular brakes until they no longer worked due to heat. When you downshift a manual transmission you have to gun the engine to meet with the transmission which it doesn't seem he knew how to do. He probably tried but once out of gear, was in neutral and couldn't stop it because he had no regular breaks.

 

[j-mac]

We will likely know the truth on this one. If his brakes truly failed, I could see where it would be easy to not take a runaway truck ramp, but there is more to it than that. Some big carriers do not equip their trucks with Jake brakes at all, so the drivers have nothing to rely on but the regular friction brakes like cars have. This would also mean the driver is responsible to drive a much slower speed than posted in order to not cook his brakes.

I don’t know of ANY tractor in the US doing runs through that terrain not equipped with engine brakes.

 

[EvMetro]

I don’t know of ANY tractor in the US doing runs through that terrain not equipped with engine brakes.

I sure hope this is true for the current generation of long haulers. I was long haul back in the late nineties, and several big companies had trucks without Jake brakes back then. I remember seeing a Covenant truck burning on the 58 between Bakersfield and Barstow, because he was going too fast for a truck not equipped with an engine brake.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I sure hope this is true for the current generation of long haulers. I was long haul back in the late nineties, and several big companies had trucks without Jake brakes back then. I remember seeing a Covenant truck burning on the 58 between Bakersfield and Barstow, because he was going too fast for a truck not equipped with an engine brake.

Shit, that was back in the days when I started. Back then many trucks didn't even have air ride or power steering. Companies cut costs wherever they could.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I don’t know of ANY tractor in the US doing runs through that terrain not equipped with engine brakes.

The problem is that engine brakes only work when the transmission is in gear. Looking at the video it seemed like this guy was in neutral or a very high gear, and I have no idea why anybody would shift to a high gear going down a mountain.

 

[EvMetro]

The problem is that engine brakes only work when the transmission is in gear. Looking at the video it seemed like this guy was in neutral or a very high gear, and I have no idea why anybody would shift to a high gear going down a mountain.

I used to use neutral once in awhile in Wyoming going through the sisters..I could see far ahead though, and I would wait till I was close enough to the bottom to where I wouldn't get over about 125 or 130. My 10 speed 3406 cat didn't like those speeds with the engine brake screaming on level 3, so I'd cheat a little when I could see the coast was clear.