stranger

And I think you forgot the "IMO"!

Don06

A safe following distance implies a distance that would allow you to stop or at least avoid an incident in front of you. Ergo; if you can't stop, you didn't have a safe distance, safe speed for the distance you had or you weren't paying attention.

The drivers of trucks, like the one involved in the incident, should have no problem seeing over even an suv in front of them. A large truck would block their vision requiring more space.

You have to look far enough ahead of your vehicle to see things that might be laying in the road. While an HHR isn't terribly large, it should be visible from a considerable distance.

urbexHHR

I don't understand how any of you can blame the truck driver! How do you know what happened? How would you like to be in his shoes right now, having killed a person just before Christmas. Even any time of the year, that would be very traumatic, and will more than likely haunt him for the rest of his life. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Rodney B

Just found out this young man is the Nephew of a good childhood friend of mine. I feel so bad for his family.

Rodney

Krash Kadillak

Drunk driver runs a stop sign onto the highway right in front of your big truck. How does that work with your theory?

goetylsd

RIP Phelan Smith. 36 is a very young age to die. His life was cut way too short. I wonder if he has any kids or a wife. Every time I drive past a fatal accident when I'm on the road, it just gives me the chills, I think it's probably one of the worst ways to die. I can only imagine what this man's family is going through right now. My deepest sympathies for those affected by this tragedy. I hope this was truly an accident, and not the result of careless/distracted driving. One can only speculate how and why this happened.

Don06

That isn't what happened here. This vehicle didn't suddenly appear. Other drivers had gone around and reported a slow moving vehicle. I have had people run stop signs and cross my path. Luckily it happened at pretty wide open areas where I saw them coming and, from their speed, figured they weren't going to stop and was able to slow enough to allow them to cross in front of me.

There will be incidents when vehicles cross the median into oncoming traffic and can't be avoided. I'm not blaming the truck driver. There may have been traffic that didn't allow him to see or avoid the crash. I don't know if it was dark or maybe there was some fog but in either of those cases, the truck needs to slow down. A semi weighing 80,000 lbs with all brakes up to government standards takes over 100 feet more to stop at 55 mph than the average car or pickup. At 65mph it takes over 300 feet more to stop. That's why trucks need to be careful with traffic and speed.

In the case we are talking about, the police will have downloaded the memory of both vehicles computers to check what speed both vehicles were moving at the time of the collision and when the brakes were applied. The NTSB will review the information and may try to re-create the scene. If the truck was speeding or the driver didn't hit the brakes before the collision, it won't go well for him. If he was talking on a cell phone it will be even worse.

Don06

So you say the truck driver killed him?

hyperv6

Let just leave it to the fact there is not enough evidence here to place blame on either driver. So many things can come into play here and we have nothing to base blame on.

The Truck driver could have been on a cell phone to the guy in the HHR just pulled into his lane at 10 MPH with the truck only 50 feet behind.
I am sure there are clues both drivers could have done something to help avoid this.

I had a trucker friend who had a great record and right before he retired he had some kid in NY that cut him off and gave him no where to go. He went over the car crushing him. Even though he was cleared of any wrong doing he paid a great price for this. He lost all love of the job he had for years. It even bothers him today many years later. He blames himself for not doing something to keep from hitting the car. The fact is if he had swerved he may have killed more people round him and he did the onlyh thing he really could do.

In my crash two years ago I could have t bone the guy who turned in front of me or swerved to the left and hit on coming traffic. I tried to make the corner but at my speed there was no way. The ditch and embankment stopped my car in the best case possible. It is amazing in a fraction of a second what choices you can make and how luck can play into it. I had a broken intercooler but I went home. If I had hit him I would have killed him and maybe myself. Not to mention the cars behind him. He gaqve me so little room to make a choice and by God grace I made the right one.

I do not want to blame one or the other here. I am sure neither one intended this out come and one paid a great price. They call them accidents for a reason. Nuff Said.

843de

Yes, please wait for all the facts to come in on this, its a tragedy for everyone involved. Just take a step back and remember that its going to take time for the investigation before any fingers should be pointed.