Man killed in semi tractor-trailer wreck

Road Dust

Takes a little sunshine
A semi tractor-trailer driver was killed Friday in a fiery wreck that shut down the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 between Laramie and Cheyenne for more than seven hours.

Jerry Roberts, 48, of Omaha, Neb., a driver for Fremont Contract Carriers Inc. (FCC), was pronounced dead at the scene of a wreck involving two tractor-trailers that took place at 5:40 a.m. near milepost 335 on I-80, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP).

In addition to the Roberts, troopers found in the cab the remains of a dog that they believe belonged to him.

Man killed in semi tractor-trailer wreck | Laramie Boomerang | Laramie, Wyoming
 
What a terrible tragedy.

Welton J. Seawright, 51, of Melvindale, Mich., an inexperienced CRST Trucking driver who was disoriented and driving too slow, caused the wreck, Marrs said.

“He’s a brand new driver; he had only been driving a truck for three weeks,” he said. “He got disoriented in the dark, going up and down the hills, and his truck was bogging down.”

Marrs said Seawright thought he was driving up an incline when he wasn’t, which is why he was in second gear and traveling at 5 mph in the driving lane even though the highway was dry and visibility was clear.

Three weeks of experience, and he was driving unsupervised. At night. In the hammer lane.

Why?

His instructor, Otis B. Willson, 40, of Anton, Mich., was asleep in the cab at the time of the wreck and was uninjured, Marrs said.

Just like that Werner crash in Utah last year where the trainee got on the Northbound lanes of I-15 traveling Southbound and hit a car head on, while the trainer was sleeping. These rookies have no business driving while the instructor is sleeping, and the instructors have no business teaching people how to drive a truck. And the companies need to have a policy that the instructor must always be in the jumpseat (awake) when the n00b is at the wheel.

Marrs said the WHP seized and impounded the CRST tractor-trailer because the company refused to allow troopers access to the black-box recorder in the cab.

“The only two ways we can read that are either by a court order, in the form of a search warrant or subpoena, or by the company or vehicle owner giving us permission,” Marrs said. “It will be held until we can get a court order to seize that information.”

A WHP press release says upon completion of the investigation, all information will be turned over to the Albany County Attorney’s Office for the filing of any criminal charges

The criminal charges (if any) should be filed against the instructor and the company that owns the truck.
 
dang have you all read the "comments" on this story? We can all assume we would have done this and they should have done that but unless we were actually there we will never know what really happened.....speculation makes for an adventurous way of sometimes beefing up our own ego's.....
 
The problem with companies is they hire students just for the miles.They think only after a week of training if even that they're now ready for team loads.The trainers won't tell the company this is too soon because they want those miles.Or if the trainer does say it's too soon and their company could care less so all the stress is on the trainer.True the trainer should be in the jump seat at all times but they need their sleep.If I was a trainer and my company tried pulling a stunt like giving me a team load like they do now.I'd tell my dispatcher the load is getting to the cust when it gets there and not before.Another problem is companies don't screen tainers like they should.Many don't have the experience to train and companies know this.But IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY.
 
A trainer is just that,THEY TRAIN.They should not be allowed to drive that truck except the first week or so while the student observes.During the entire training the company should give only solo loads and that truck get shut down every night.But no that trk is moving 24/7 because companies have to get that money risking every life out here because the students are driving unsupervised.Companies feel one or two solo loads is enough training now we're giving you a 3000 mile run and not enough time to get there.But companies get away with it.Everything is on the driver.Anybody see anything wrong with this beside me???????????
 
I agree.When I was a trainer we were told "this is not a team operation" And I was to be awake at all times in the jump seat.We shut down at night.WE were also given loads that weren't a hammer down run,The emphasis was on teaching and learning but I was given a pre-plan from another terminal that would have been a team load.They sent it to me 3 times 3 times I called and refused It.The next day I called the D.M.That looks after the trainers and students they called that dispatcher at the other terminal and tore him a new one.
 
i'll never figure out why the trainer sleeps while the student drives i think there should be a law against the trainer sleeping while training
 
dang have you all read the "comments" on this story? We can all assume we would have done this and they should have done that but unless we were actually there we will never know what really happened.....speculation makes for an adventurous way of sometimes beefing up our own ego's.....

Driving 5 mph in WY where the speed is 70 is a death waiting to happen, no way around it or excuse for it. The idiot should not have been on the road doing what he was doing to have caused the wreck. CRST has become a trash company the last 10 years. I feel for the dog and the dead driver and no matter how much $$ CRST shells out or the penalty their idiot driver gets but it will not be enough tp pay for the loss of the drivers life or his families loss.
 
Driving 5 mph in WY where the speed is 70 is a death waiting to happen, no way around it or excuse for it. The idiot should not have been on the road doing what he was doing to have caused the wreck. CRST has become a trash company the last 10 years. I feel for the dog and the dead driver and no matter how much $$ CRST shells out or the penalty their idiot driver gets but it will not be enough tp pay for the loss of the drivers life or his families loss.

did you read the comments from the article that were referring to the deceased driver? And the comments returned by his family members? That is what I am talking about.
 
did you read the comments from the article that were referring to the deceased driver? And the comments returned by his family members? That is what I am talking about.


Of course not, I am a busy man, only have time to make snap judgments and quick decisions.
 
Of course not, I am a busy man, only have time to make snap judgments and quick decisions.

oh boone come on I thought some (not here in the article) were being rude to the deceased man and doing a lot of speculating what he did wrong.....
 

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