Driver fatigue

This accident may have been a case of driver fatigue or perhaps health related.

The tracks leaving the road were gradual and straight with no skid marks at all.

The area where it occurred is near the end of a very long stretch of highway bordered only by fields and wooded areas for miles, a fertile area for tunnelvision to occur.

Drive Safe

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Victim of weather or fatigue? - Maybe both.

Another victim of the last winter blast . . . or was it?


The tracks from this truck were straight as the road started to take a gentle
bend. Maybe the driver was suffering from fatigue or tunnel vision and did not notice the bend till it was too late.

This region is notorious for white outs, so perhaps the driver could not see the bend in the road.

The driver may have been trying to look through a dirty or snow covered windshield.

Whatever the reason, the damage is done and it becomes another learning opportunity and an example of winter hazards drivers deal with in northern a climate.


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Good Bye Winter

I won't miss winter and I bet I'm not the only one.


I've seen enough of the white stuff this year, I don't mind seeing it go away.



Now the construction season is upon us.



SLOW DOWN in construction zones,


let the workers enjoy the spring too.




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Oh yeah, you can check out my Smoke Tree too.

Freak accident is deadly

Truck trailer plummets sixty feet off overpass and crushes 4 cars below killing one man.





I had to make my way around the massive congestion caused by this crash three times today with one trip passing right by the scene. My camera battery was dead when I drove past the scene though unfortunately, I had my camera on too long earlier taking the long distance shots shown here.





I have seen many many crashes over the years but never anything as dramatic as this one. The wreckage was more like a pile of scrap metal pushed across the road.






All together the westbound lanes were closed about twelve hours for the investigation and clean-up.

Beyond the human cost of the tragedy, can you imagine the other costs of this accident paralyzing the south west corner of the city the entire business day and into the evening.


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Forklift Safety at liftright.net
See Truck photos or my other photos at donssite.com
or see optical illusions or web animations

Rainy Day

It was a pretty wet day today and the rain caused havoc in traffic all over.

I saw several weather related accidents today.




There was a car overturned in a ditch after sliding on wet pavement that slowed traffic down a bit.

Then a few miles down the road was a big mess for several hours where a bus and truck tangled leaving the bus in the ditch.


Slow down in poor weather conditions.

No tires can grip a wet road anywhere near as good as a dry road especially when the road is "greasy" with traces of various automotive fluids and road dirt mixed with the rain.




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See Truck photos or my other photos at donssite.com
or see optical illusions or web animations

Aggressive Highway Driver

There is a dangerous behavior I encounter occasionally while driving a truck past highway entry ramps. Vehicles entering the highway racing past the end of the on ramp to get in front of the truck.

A guy in a pick up truck did it today when I was already going 60 mph in solid traffic, he almost clipped me as he passed then instantly slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of me when the shoulder narrowed and he had to merge.


Luckily I wasn't carrying an unstable load because I had to hit my brakes to avoid hitting him.

He has stolen MY SAFETY SPACE and could have potentially caused a serious accident.

Some people just don't get it when it comes to road safety.

Road Safety tips at http://www.ezee.ca
Forklift Safety at liftright.net
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Flat tire on the highway

Well, I was heading into work today in heavy traffic bound for Toronto when I started to feel this sickening feeling "in the seat of my pants" then the dreaded sound like a small propeller driven airplane. A rapid flat tire, and I'm in the middle lane going 50 mph.

As I begin slowing and manage to get into the right lane, I see there's nowhere to go. No shoulder whatsoever but an entry ramp is coming up in about a quarter of a mile so I kept going to the ramp and got off as far as I could. Then got out and looked at my chewed up tire.

I don't get flat tires very often, so I wasn't really prepared to deal with it. The spare tire is mounted under the van, WHAT A STUPID PLACE to put the spare, rusted into place, there's no way I'm getting it off so I had to get towed in to get a new tire.

Luckily, (the only good thing about my day) Canadian Tire covered it and another tire under their road hazard warranty.

So, I get to work about three hours late, but at least I got there.

Things could have been much worse, It could have been snowing or raining, it could have been my front tire, I could have been going much faster and It could have caused an accident.

It goes to show that you have to be ready for anything while you are driving, you can never "let your guard down" in highway traffic.

Drive Safe,

Safe driving tips at http://ezee.ca
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Get Off the Road

There was a cube van stopped at the beginning of a lane split where 2 lanes leave five at 65 Mph.

Traffic was swerving in both lanes the van was partially blocking which affected all lanes. Lots of brake lights and sudden lane breaches.

I don't know if the guy was broken down or trying to figure out which way to go but there were no turn signals, 4 way flashers or any other warning devices.

If he broke down, could he not have coasted 70 feet farther into the "bullnose" so he would be clear of the traffic lanes.

If he was trying to figure out which way to go, he should just LOSE HIS LICENSE FOR BEING STUPID! You Don't Stop on multi lane highways unless it's an emergency.

Over the years, I've passed and been affected by more than a dozen fatal rear end crashes where one vehicle was stopped and hit at highway speed.

If you are on a highway and you aren't traveling highway speeds, GET OFF.

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Mandatory speed limiters in trucks in Ontario . . .

Legislation was tabled Wednesday at Queens Park, to make speed limiters mandatory for all Transport Trucks traveling through Ontario.

Trucks would be limited to 105 Kph or about 65 Mph as an absolute maximum speed.

What most people won't immediately realize is that this is going to limit the speed of all traffic and cause enormous bottlenecks on long stretches of two lane highways like 401 from Windsor to London because trucks won't be able to pass each other anymore so they will run down the road side by side at their top speed of 105.

Meanwhile, the car traffic that likes to drive 110 to 120 Kph or more will be sitting behind trucks that can't pass each other.

What do you think?

Am I wrong?

Any Opinions?

Safe driving tips at http://ezee.ca
Forklift Safety at http://liftright.net
or see my photos at http://donssite.com

Some people shouldn't be allowed on the highway

I was out on the highway tonight for an hour or so, it was pretty yucky out with a little light snow but everyone was behaving nicely for the conditions and the volume of traffic, everyone was traveling around the speed limit and it was nice smooth sailing.

Everyone that is, except for one fool driving a cube van about 40 MPH in the slow lane of a three lane highway. With the slight reduction in visibility from the snow, the highway turns instantly to a sea of brake lights and turn signals with a half dozen 18 wheelers trying to get around this guy.

I don't know if he had mechanical problems or if he had a heavy or unstable load but there are several alternate parallel roads he could take if either were the case, the weather conditions surely didn't warrant his slow speed.

What a screw up this guy was, I know the driving conditions weren't perfect but his reduced speed in the volume of traffic that was driving 60MPH puts so many people at risk due to the number of evasive actions upcoming traffic is forced into making.

Once again another reason some people should not be allowed to drive anything on the highway.

More on safety at http://www.ezee.ca