posted 09-02-2006 03:09 AM                      

quote: Louis Bornwasser

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The good thing about trucking, Tim, is that you are either at-the-motel or in the truck when you stop.

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I do like being able to sleep whenever I need to, but the big problem (particularly late at night) is you can't always find a place to stop. Too many trucks and not enough parking spaces. You have no choice but to keep driving. Fortunately for me, I normally run at night, so by the time I shut down at 6 or 7am all the truck stops have cleared out. If I get sleepy any earlier than that, though, it's very difficult to find a place to stop.

posted 09-02-2006 03:33 AM                       

quote: Tim Reed

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Like motoring crashes, though, I've always believed that the majority of collisions can be avoided. Most of them happen when two people who are not paying attention to themselves or their surroundings... meet.

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Agreed completely. My no. 1 bugbear is people not leaving a safe enough distance between them and the vehicle in front. For at least half, I'd say, of my drive to and from work (48 miles each way, about half of which is on a 50-60mph single carriageway and the other half on a 70mph dual carriageway), there's usually someone close enough behind me that if I had to brake suddenly for any reason, (s)he'd be guaranteed to rear end me - no question whatsoever. The reason is either that they're just not paying attention, or that they're frustrated and want to overtake. The only way to deal with it is to slow down even more and open up an even bigger gap in front of me, to try and reduce the chances of ever having to brake sharply ... but of course that just makes the moron behind more frustrated and likely to do something really stupid, like try to overtake me from 55mph in a 1.1 Nissan Micra on a 200-yard approach to a blind bend. That's why I'll usually always sit behind a big lorry for the single carriageway stretch rather than try to overtake it - because (i) it can't brake that sharply compared to a car's braking action, and (ii) the driver is a professional, and therefore likely to be keeping a safe distance to the vehicle in front of him. And even if I did go past him, doing so would get me to work or home massive 2-3 minutes earlier (the difference between 50 and 60mph over a 10-15 mile stretch)! Not worth the risk or the hassle.

Oh, and people who drive up and down the motorway with one hand on the steering wheel and the other clasping a mobile 'phone to their ear really should be led up a hill and introduced to the wicker man. This was made illegal here in 2003, but that hasn't reduced the problem.

quote: Phil Hill

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I HOPE the airport and those responsible for the design and modification approvals get sued to hell!

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quote: Yahoo news site

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Family Sues over Deadly Comair Crash
By JEFFREY MCMURRAY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Sep 1, 4:59 PM ET

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The family of a woman killed when Comair Flight 5191 took off on the wrong runway and crashed in flames sued the airline Friday, blaming it for the nation's deadliest airplane disaster in five years.

The lawsuit accuses Comair of negligence and says passenger Rebecca L. Adams suffered "conscious pain and suffering" when the plane went down Sunday morning and quickly burned with 49 people still inside. The only survivor was the co-pilot, who remained hospitalized Friday but was upgraded from critical to serious condition.

The regional jet had left the gate before dawn with 50 people aboard. The pilots mistakenly turned onto the wrong runway, one too short for the twin-engine plane, and tried to take off. The plane crashed in a field just beyond Lexington's Blue Grass Airport.

The crash "could not have happened if those having control of the instrumentality had not been negligent," attorney Bobby Wombles of Lexington said in the lawsuit. Adams' son, Joshua Isaac Adams, said the family was pursuing legal action "so that we can one day have the answers we need."

The action needed to be taken immediately to make the family a full part of the investigation, giving it power to subpoena witnesses who also are being questioned by federal investigators, said another of the family's lawyers, Robert Clifford of Chicago. Other families also have contacted his firm, he said at a Lexington news conference.

Nick Miller, a Comair spokesman, said he couldn't comment on pending litigation. "Comair extends its heartfelt sympathy to everyone affected by the accident and our focus remains addressing the needs of family and loved ones in cooperating with the investigative process," Miller said.

Earlier this week, a Texas law firm ran a full-page ad in the Lexington Herald-Leader promising to get maximum damages for the families of victims who hired it. Comair, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc., operates 850 flights to 108 cities daily. Both airlines filed for bankruptcy protection last year.

The Lexington airport board met in a private session Friday morning to discuss "proposed litigation" against it as well. Michael Gobb, the airport director, said at least one family of the victims had told the airport it intends sue.

Federal officials have been looking into how the plane ended up on the 3,500-foot-long runway, the shortest of two runways at the Lexington airport and meant only for small planes. The taxiway to the 7,000-foot-long main runway had been altered by repaving one week before the crash.

In addition, only one air traffic controller was in the tower. The controller had had only two hours of sleep before starting work and had turned his back to do administrative work as the plane headed down the runway, according to the

Nearly a week after the crash, the first funerals began for the victims. Clark and Bobbie Sue Benton had boarded Flight 5191 for a trip to the Caribbean and vacation. They were buried Friday near Stanford in south-central Kentucky.

"We're asking difficult questions," the Rev. Wayne Galloway said at their funeral, attended by more than 300 people at Calvary Hill Baptist Church. "Why? Why do bad things happen to good people." Another memorial service was planned Friday in Lexington for Larry Turner, who oversaw the University of Kentucky's extension service.

Associated Press writers Samira Jafari in Pikeville; Roger Alford in Stanford; and Brett Barrouquere in Louisville contributed to this report.

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