Local Prius in a deadly accident

That is so sad. My condolences to the family. A tragedy that should have been avoided. I saw a similar accident a couple of days ago. The driver was not paying any attention to the road and smacked a road closed sign at 50mph. Replace the road closed sign with the same big rig yield the same tragedy. It doesn't say if there are other people in the car. It shows a white sheet covering the rear door but not the front door.
I'm kind of interested what Prius it was. From the video the rims look like the 15" so that rules out the V. It's obvious that it doesn't have the sunroof package. I kept thinking if the PCS or even the DRCC could have saved the driver. When the DRCC brakes, you'll feel it. That will get your attention to the road and what's ahead of you from whatever you're doing.

 

Is it even legal to have a load dangling off the back of the trailer like that? It completely defeats the purpose of the trailer's crash barrier.

 

No that's not legal at all. At the very least it should be red taped.

Although, it's possible the cargo could have shifted prior to or during the accident. It doesn't make sense that it would shift back that much though. If the truck had to come to a sudden stop the deceleration would push the load forward, not backward. I'm confused. Time to do some CSI. *puts on gloves*

Edit: Ok I read the article, seems it was redtaped. Still driving with that load is extremely dangerous, I blame the trailer company or driver for bad judgement. Anytime I encounter that on the road, I change lanes and peel ahead of the idiot. Yeah I burn some gas but I'm not going to risk my car or life driving behind that thing.

 

As long as the end of the load is marked with a red flag or something of that nature and the truck is marked as a Oversized Load, its legal.

Or the Prius driver for not leaving enough room in front of them to react to the truck braking, or not paying attention? Its pretty hard to pay attention to what is going on behing you 100% of the time when driving a big truck like that. What could the driver of the truck have done?

Oversized loads are everywhere and you do the smart thing...stay away from them on the road...this poor fellow obviously did not.

Oversized loads have to get places too. No evidence this truck driver or trucking company was doing anything but obeying the law. I have a family member who is a long-haul trucker, its a very stressful job and something like this is every trucker's worst nightmare. I think its a big stretch to blame the trucking company or call the driver an idiot when he was operating a truck pulling a load within the confines of the law as far as we can tell...and someone rear-ends him.

A very good friend of my family was killed in a similar accident years ago before the backs of trailers had those crash bars on the bottom. He rear ended a tractor trailer and the front of the car when under while the bottom of the trailer came through the windshield and killed him instantly...shame...

 

I agree. From the looks of the scene the Prius driver was totally at fault.

 

The wheel covers are 2010 style as are the head lights (the orange stripe on side.)

The load extended 11 ft. beyond the end of the trailer which is reported to require a special permit. In Alabama, there has to be a following vehicle for some oversized loads.

Trucker reports going 30-40 mph and the Prius estimated at 60 mph with driver talking on cell phone (no hands free??) I bet automatic cruise control and accident avoidance would have prevented this accident. Too bad it is only available on the top of the line models.

Bob Wilson

 

Shouldve paid extra for bluetooth. Wouldve saved his life.

 

I don't know, the sensor for the DRCC and the PCS is low on the vehicle, in the Toyota emblem. With the load being so high as to just go through the windshield it may never have tripped. Anyways...he's have to be using the CC at the time.

The PCS wouldn't have saved him...

 

i would say the prius driver was at fault here, but i'm curious to see what they rule about the truck and whether it was in violation of any codes.

 

So sad, I can't believe with this type of load a vehicle wasn't trailing behind though.

 

I remember seeing escort trucks with wide loads not with long ones. Perhaps they will discover that Mr. Prius died of natural causes before he was impaled.

If traffic went from 60mph to 40mph the RCC would have helped. It's pretty aggressive at keeping formation. At least it would have kept the distance from the trailer.

If the load didn't have proper marking or a permit I'd say that was a contributing factor. Like so many others on the roads it looks like the Prius was tailgating. If he needed that 11 feet to stop, he was too close.

Whenever there is an accident involving a tractor trailer there seems to be a rush to judgement against its driver. I suspect more are caused by someone in a car doing something stupid.

I do hope the investigation is published.

 

How horrible.

Based on the information given, I tend to agree that the Prius driver was likely at fault. This is a sobering image, indeed, and a good wakeup call for those of us (I'll speak for myself, at least) who are occasionally tempted to distraction by all of the gadgets on our cars. Watching the MPG and energy usage displays won't do much good in the event of a totaled car or worse.

 

I believe the re-bar was hanging down too low and obstructed the view of the stop light from behind, which turns the load to be illegal.

 

It sure looks like a dangerous load regardless of what the law might be.

I can imagine it being a lot less than obvious that the load extended so far behind the trailer

 

What a shame. My heart goes out to all involved. It does look like the car driver was probably at fault--hard for that not to be the case in a rear-end collision--but if the load was arranged differently, the damage may have been more to the car and less to the occupant. Yes, a trailing vehicle and/or DRCC might have made a difference, but, ultimately, it is up to us all to pay attention. Again, condolences to all. I'm sure the trucker feels terrible.

Memo to self--drive carefully!

 

An unlucky height for those things hanging down, really unlucky. Still, probably driver at fault. That big rig would have taken forever to slow down, far longer than a Prius so I assume the guy just wasn't paying attention.

 

The PCS might not have braked enough to save him but even if only detecting the actual truck (not the load) it would have beeped soon enough to attract the driver's attention!
When the PCS beeps you still have time to brake to a complete stop with some margin.

 

I can't think of any rear-end collision where the driver of the car/truck that was hit from behind, is at fault.

That said, when looking at the length of the overhang from the rebar, and the fact that it was drooping down....the rebar seems to extend out a long way beyond the frame of the truck, with no additional structural support to keep the rebar above car height. I suspect that this is not legal, and in addition, was not properly marked. But that's only speculation.