Driver dies after truck plummets off Bay Bridge at S-curve

[CreekDog]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(11-09) 05:00 PST SAN FRANCISCO --

A truck driver died early today after losing control on the Bay Bridge S-curve at high speed and plummeting 200 feet below to Yerba Buena Island, the most serious collision yet since the new detour was installed, the California Highway Patrol said.



The crash happened at about 3:30 a.m. as the truck was traveling at high speed westbound on the span, said CHP Sgt. Trent Cross.

"The commercial vehicle was traveling at high speed when the driver attempted to negotiate the turn," Cross said. "He went off the side of the Bay Bridge and dropped approximately 200 feet down."

The truck smashed into Yerba Buena Island below, spilling gasoline and its cargo of produce over a wide area. The driver, whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead.

The two right lanes on the upper deck were closed immediately after the crash. As of 5 a.m., the right-most lane remained closed to allow the CHP to take aerial photos of the scene.

A woman driving in front of the truck told the CHP that she saw "a lot of dust" and that "she thinks it went over the right side of the bridge."

There have been more than 42 crashes in the curved area since it opened Sept. 8, and this morning's crash is the first fatality, authorities said. On Oct. 14, a Safeway big-rig truck flopped across four lanes and crashed, tying up westbound truck for hours. The driver was unfamiliar with the new turn and was going too fast, the CHP said.

Although the speed limit on that stretch of the bridge was lowered from 50 mph to 40 mph, drivers have had difficulty negotiating the relatively sudden curve in the road.

...


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/09/BAAE1AHDO3.DTL&tsp=1

[hobbit709]

1. I'd say he was going a lot faster than 40 or 50

[ej510]

5. He probably was, but as someone who drives across this bridge

regularly, I can tell you it doesn't take much to crash, because alot people do not know how to drive.

[TwilightGardener]

2. 200 ft.--yikes, poor guy. You know his last thought was, "Oh shit..."

[junior college]

3. If you drive over that bridge for 20 years and then one day there is an S-curve

it's not surprising this kind of accident would happen. It was weird for me the first couple of times I drove it with the new curve.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

10. Same here --

The first time I hit it I wasn't going all that fast but still had a very hard time with it -- there was a lot of chaos around me, with other drivers reacting to the curve, lots of braking and lane joggling beside me. :scared:

[vaberella]

14. You guys scare me. I don't know what this bridge is, but S curve already freaks me out.

Aside of course from the death. RIP.

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. where did this S curve come from? Did they build an entirely new section of bridge?

[CreekDog]

28. yes, they built a new section of bridge (although it is temporary)

the new bridge is being built to connect to a tunnel through the island that is currently in use.

so to keep traffic flowing, they had to build a detour around where the new bridge will connect to the existing tunnel.

then once the new bridge is finished, they will tear down this detour.

there wasn't a better option for keeping traffic flowing other than a new tunnel (but where would it go?) or a different routing. this is the busiest toll bridge in the country.

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. Seems like they need drastic measures to slow down traffic at the 'S', maybe speed bumps?

Or is that too crazy? I suppose speed bumps would launch the speeders into the air.

[CreekDog]

38. Maybe rumble strips

or just park a CHP vehicle right after the curve (no room elsewhere). somehow everybody will jam on their brakes at the right time.

[Auggie]

4. Lower the speed limit even more

[Bette Noir]

6. Flashing lights and signs that say "Detour ahead" wouldn't hurt.

Or it is too hard to think that there could be a detour on a bridge?

I love San Francisco, but it's a terrible place to have to drive. The roads are insane, and the drivers are worse.

[AzNick]

7. And some serious concrete walls ...

Steel-reinforced.

Put some recovery money into that.

[WriteDown]

The Bay Area is still doing VERY WELL compared to the rest of the country...

That is the last place that needs stimulus money.

[Gormy Cuss]

21. By what metric?

Unemployment rate for the Bay Area is just about the same as the country as a whole (9.5 vs. 9.6% in August) and the real estate values are overall still in decline.

[WriteDown]

25. See post 24. nt

[WriteDown]

24. Look at the overall value of property or the avergage job salary....

Then look at places like Detroit and Flint. Whole other worlds.

[CreekDog]

29. Detroit and Flint aren't representative of the whole country

if South Dakota is getting stimulus money and is doing much better than the Bay Area, then I don't see why we don't deserve any.

and if New Jersey, with perhaps similar or lower unemployment than the Bay Area is getting stimulus money, then I don't see why we shouldn't.

[WriteDown]

31. Neither is the Bay Area....

The majority of those living in the Bay Area have a much higher income and assets than the rest of the country. Same goes for NYC and parts of NJ.

The fact that the Bay Area had the money in the first place to build the S-curve is evidence of the fact that the stimulus money should be focused in other areas without those kind of funds.

[CreekDog]

33. The Bay Area didn't build the S-curve (The State of California did)

Now let everyone judge the rest of your comments with that rather big error in mind.

I'd like to discuss your original point, but you keep changing it. Can we go back to it?

[WriteDown]

34. Regardless....

Do you deny that the assets that exist in the Bay Area dwarf the most of the rest of the country? I would be more apt to consign stimulus funds over to the Bay Area if they could reverse some of the gentrification that has occured there.

[Gormy Cuss]

35. That argument would favor sending more money to the Bay Area

because it's got stronger fundamentals for when it exits the recession/depression.
Places like Detroit need a complete redevelopment of the economic base. No amount of stimulus money will do, rather a comprehensive community and economic development plan is necessary because the problems of the area aren't related to a short term downturn.

And BTW, the average property values and salaries are indicative of a high cost area, not a sign of current economic health.

[Arugula Latte]

11. Driving in the Bay Area takes skill, patience and nerves of steel.

I used to drive down the road that the Claremont Hotel is on in the Berkeley Hills. There was always lots of traffic, and always someone trying to turn out of the Claremont, waiting and waiting for an opening. I'd slow down and wave them in 1) to get good driving karma (car-ma), and 2) to see their amazed reactions that someone was actually considerate to them. It always gave me a little boost in the morning.

I live in Portland now and I'm still amazed at how friendly, courteous and low-key many of the drivers are here (with exceptions, of course).

[shanti]

15. that's what i tell my 19 year old son

who thinks he's invincible since he lived (and drove) in LA for three months. i personally think that bay area traffic is worse, since it's more cars in a smaller, more compacted area than LA. i particularly dislike driving the freeways in oakland, too much lane crossing.

[Arugula Latte]

19. That is a tricky crossover area. You have to really pay attention.

You're in one lane, thinking you're set, and then suddenly you're headed for another freeway.

Also there are some dangerous bottlenecks like the approach to the Caldecott tunnel, where some aren't sure if they're in the correct lane and then make dangerous last-minute decisions.

[corpseratemedia]

20. I think I live in anti-Portand

:-(

[boppers]

37. Ah, Portland.

One of the reasons I moved here was that attitude, seen in everything from Saturday market, to naked bike riding, to zoo-bombing, to community gardens, to rush hour (etc. etc.) where people actively look out for ways to help each other, make each other happy, and lift a bit of the gloom away... it's like we're the anti-Seattle, where they revel in their gloom, and we use it as an excuse to make everything a little brighter.

[Auggie]

12. +1

[swilton]

8. Detours Are Disasters

There ought to be some way to regulate the haphazard way they are thrown up.

The problem is also that detours are every place - we are wrecking our infrastructure faster than we can keep it maintained. And building more roads is not the answer.

[Codeine]

9. If a driver is incapable of negotiating a detour safely and efficiently

then they should not be driving, period. We take the act of driving, and the associated skillsets, far too casually in America.

[Garbo 2004]

16. Hardly haphazard: widely publicized since they're building new bridge. This new section

was built and will be used for 4 years until opening of new east bay span.

[mamaleah]

18. Being able to deal with last minute road changes and detours is part of being a good driver.

If a detour throws you off you need to re-evaluate if you should be driving.

[ProudDad]

13. 3:30am - I wonder how many hours the driver

had been forced by Safeway's schedules to be driving before this accident...

All USAmerikan workers are overworked and underpaid and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this wasn't another symptom of capitalist greed and excess...

[Garbo 2004]

17. It wasn't a Safeway truck. nt

[skoalyman]

22. investigators were trying to determine whether the truck's load of pears had shifted

It wouldn't surprise me,Loads shifting can turn a truck over on a straight away even though he was in an s curve.

[Regret My New Name]

23. So what's going on with the bay bridge exactly?

I did a quick search, and I couldn't really get a complete picture of what is going on. Are they pretty much replacing the bridge piece by piece or building a new one side by side?

[CreekDog]

30. They are building a replacement that parallels the existing span

However, where the parallel spans will converge is at the Yerba Buena Island tunnel, so both the old and new cannot be built parallel and still flow to the tunnel. So they built the S-curve to temporarily route traffic to the tunnel and leave enough room for the new bridge to be built to connect to the same tunnel.

[chatnoir]

26. There have been 42 accidents at that S-Curve

in the past 2 months since they installed it over Labor Day w/e. Mostly fender-benders, but still

There is no major signage on the upper deck like "Curve Ahead - 40mph". And no rumble bumps.

There is sth right before you come up on the curve giving almost no warning at all.

[flvegan]

32. Flummoxed by a bend.

Horrible or distracted drivers.

Poor guy, though. His fault going at that speed...in a commercial truck. Helluva way to die.

[LeftyMom]

39. Oh, honey, you have no idea.

:rofl:

Horrible is an understatement.

[mackerel]

40. You know I drove that a month back and when my

husband told me to slow down as the 'S' curve is tricky, I literally scoffed at him. Needless to say 5 seconds later I was putting on the breaks big time.