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Who's fault is it?


TallRedRider

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https://www.facebook.com/derek.wolthoff/posts/10226523418738674

I suspect he will delete the post soon.  Dashcam shows a Utah Highway Patrol officer turns on his lights, goes a little to the right, then sharp U-turn to the left.  The vehicle with the camera hits the left rear of the police car, then a Ford Raptor towing a Malibu jacknifes on the right shoulder avoiding the police car and first truck that just hit it.  Thankfully nobody was injured, and Raptor and Malibu did not crash into the railing or roll down a steep embankment.  

The Ford Raptor pulling the boat has an 8000 pound towing capacity, and I suspect with gear and people, he is over that, or at least very close.  My money is on the guy will get nothing from the Utah Highway patrol, except maybe a citation for following too closely.  

For all the preaching that some of us safety geeks do about not towing over capacity, I have never seen in real life someone get financially hit for being over capacity on the tow vehicle (although I suspect those don't get published on the forums).    This might be a case where he had a small chance of recourse, the U-turn does look reckless.   He could argue that unless the police officer saw immediate bodily harm going on, that U-turn was unnecessary.  A good lawyer for the HIghway patrol will find him over capacity and he won't get anything.  

Discuss amongst yourselves.  

 

  • Like 1
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The truck behind the cop even tried to swerve to the left when he saw the cop initially start to go to the right.  After that, he was screwed.  I don't think following too close had anything to do with this.  I am not sure if the guy in the raptor is towing a 22 or 23 LSV to say if he is overweight or not either.

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This reminds me of something that happened to me about 20 years ago.  We were flying through Georgia in the middle of the night on the way to Disney (in a barney purple minivan).  I was going way over the speed limit, it was maybe 2am and there was nobody around.  All the sudden a patrol car flips on his lights and comes flying across the median from the other direction - I think he was intending to wind up behind me and misjudged my speed.  He winds up sliding right in front of me, I swerved and pulled over.  He recovered and took off.  To this day I think he was planning on pulling me over but was embarrassed and decided to let it go.

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The cop made an illegal U-turn on a double yellow line after a failure to yield right-of-way.  100% his fault.  Even if the load was over the vehicle's suggested limit, that in no way caused the accident or the jackknife. 

Once you get on the brakes that hard, it takes a moment of thought to be able to get off the brakes and restore steering to miss the guard rail.  Not very many people would be able to zip up their spine and roll back onto the highway after missing the accident, not really knowing if somebody behind them was about to T-bone them.

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7 minutes ago, dwc032 said:

Ive been a cop for 20 years.  100% the cops fault and I am sure he will get in trouble in some way.  My agency would have an outside agency do the crash investigation and most likely there will be a citation of some sort and a letter in his file.   We make U-turns all the time on double yellows, but you need to do it safely and pay attention to your surroundings.  I am sure the cops feels terrible and I am glad everyone involved is ok.  At least you know he/she has insurance and the damages will be covered.  And to the Raptor being over weight, I wouldn't even have cared about that.  

No idea what Ghost mode is, but he just got caught up in the moment and made a mistake, it happens to all of us. Just some small accidents and some big. When you drive upwards of 35-40k a year you are going to bend a car.    

Ghost mode is a pacman reference.  Once you activate it stuff just passes through you ;)

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6 minutes ago, dwc032 said:

We make U-turns all the time on double yellows

Is this something that you would ticket me for if I did it?

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1 minute ago, justgary said:

Is this something that you would ticket me for if I did it?

Well I don't just make U-turns on double yellows for the heck of it.  I always have my lights on, do it in a safe manor and I have a lawful reason to do a U-turn.  

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15 minutes ago, dwc032 said:

he just got caught up in the moment and made a mistake, it happens to all of us. Just some small accidents and some big. When you drive upwards of 35-40k a year you are going to bend a car.

My BS flag is flying high on this comment.  You meant to say, "when you drive *like that* upwards of 35-40k a year...."  Imagine the fun that over-the-road truckers could have if that was their excuse.

2 minutes ago, dwc032 said:

Well I don't just make U-turns on double yellows for the heck of it.  I always have my lights on, do it in a safe manor and I have a lawful reason to do a U-turn.  

I don't do it for the heck of it either, and I always have a good reason as well.  The double standards that cops use just bugs me.  I need to break the law so I can ticket that guy who is breaking the law....

By the way, you didn't actually answer the question.

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Cop swerves right, then goes left to bang a U-turn.

This isn't race car driving.

You couldn't react fast enough to his decision to turn left, after pulling right in the first place.

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According to an FB comment, the driver in the RAM that hit the cop was ticketed...  He'll be glad he has a dash cam!

https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/emergency-lights-not-heeded-lead-to-uhp-car-crash

The Mountain Green Fire Protection District is reminding people to slow down and heed emergency lights on the highway, following what could have been a tragic accident.

A Utah Highway Patrol trooper on Trapper's Loop in Morgan County had turned on his emergency lights, but a pickup truck failed to slow down, clipping the car and spinning it into the opposite lane.

The trooper's car went into the path of an oncoming pickup truck that was towing a boat, causing it to jacknife.

No one was hurt, but the outcome could have been very different.

Emergency lights are a signal to others on the highway to wait before proceeding, and move over or stop if the next action is unclear.

Edited by UWSkier
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Looking at the damage to the highway patrol car, the truck was nearly stopped by the time that it hit the car, it is pretty minimal.    I think the guy the with the boat isn't going to have much hope, as I bet the truck only stopped 3 feet sooner because of the impact.  He was following the dashcam vehicle too close to stop in an emergency.  

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6 minutes ago, TallRedRider said:

  I think the guy the with the boat isn't going to have much hope, as I bet the truck only stopped 3 feet sooner because of the impact.  He was following the dashcam vehicle too close to stop in an emergency.  

You suppose anyone ticketed him?  Nobody would be able to say if he was following too close or following at a safe distance but not paying  close enough attention (To traffic coming to a dead stop on a highway).  The other thing that may or may not have helped is that the first truck may have electric brakes on his trailer, which dramatically shortens stopping distance in a panic stop and keeps the trailer from jackknifing like the boat did before the truck hit the rail (assuming you have the power setting adjusted right)

Edited by oldjeep
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2 hours ago, UWSkier said:

A Utah Highway Patrol trooper on Trapper's Loop in Morgan County had turned on his emergency lights, but a pickup truck failed to slow down, clipping the car and spinning it into the opposite lane.

"Failed to slow down."  I love it.  About three seconds from lights on to impact, and he "failed to slow down."  Sadly, without the dashcam, it would go down that way in court as well.  I'd fire the cop for knowing what went down and then blaming the other driver.  Own it, dude.

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For the first time I kind of sort of wish that I was on Facebook so I could view the video. I am also considering installing a dash camera. 45 mile commute to work and I see some crazy and dangerous driving on a daily basis. 

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1 minute ago, Murphys said:

For the first time I kind of sort of wish that I was on Facebook so I could view the video. I am also considering installing a dash camera. 45 mile commute to work and I see some crazy and dangerous driving on a daily basis. 

You don't have to be on Facebook to see it

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6 minutes ago, Murphys said:

For the first time I kind of sort of wish that I was on Facebook so I could view the video. I am also considering installing a dash camera. 45 mile commute to work and I see some crazy and dangerous driving on a daily basis. 

 

4 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

You don't have to be on Facebook to see it

I'm not on facebook and I can see it on my computer but not my mobile device

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