Texas: Still the Wild West

by **DoomYoshi** on Sat May 19, 2018 3:32 pm

http://www.omaha.com/news/courts/werner-enterprises-plans-to-appeal-monster-million-verdict/article_201ffc77-786f-5a38-9bdd-91f312b70f57.html
Obviously the jury was a bunch of knuckle-dragging neanderthals. I hereby declare war on the State of Texas.

by **mrswdk** on Sat May 19, 2018 3:35 pm

Texas is south, silly.

Congratulations to Texas for finally making mass shootings so unnoteworthy that they don't even warrant a post in OT.

by **2dimes** on Sat May 19, 2018 9:43 pm

You should be laughing at the word "icy" being used to describe a highway in Texas.

by **Dukasaur** on Sat May 19, 2018 10:11 pm

2dimes wrote:You should be laughing at the word "icy" being used to describe a highway in Texas.

That's funny. In '76 we went on a road trip to Guatemala. Drove down through the States and Mexico. On the way down, passing through Arkansas, there were all these signs "Watch For Ice". We were just pissing ourselves laughing. "Watch For Ice, ha ha ha, these fucking people have never seen ice, ha ha ha!"

Well aint karma a bitch! January of '77, on our way home, we got hit by a motherfucker of a storm while passing through Arkansas. Spinouts everywhere. Big Gulf-enhanced warm cyclic crossing paths with a Colorado low. Followed us all the way home, 30 hours driving in the shittiest weather imaginable. Ohio alone I think took about 14 hours to cross when it's usually like 8. We had this shitty old Econoline van, all rusted out with golf-ball-sized holes in the floor. The snow came in off the road. I was sleeping in the bed in the back, woke up covered in snow, got 2nd-degree frostbite right through my sleeping bag.

by **nietzsche** on Sat May 19, 2018 10:30 pm

70's, Guatemala, guerrilla.. Dukasaur..

by **2dimes** on Sat May 19, 2018 10:32 pm

Well maybe I'm wrong about that too, and Buddy driving the big truck should have found some wifi or data, so he could rub one out in the sleeper and have a nap waiting for the road to clear.

In which case the settlement might encourage everyone else to follow their company SOP to do that.

by **Dukasaur** on Sat May 19, 2018 10:43 pm

2dimes wrote:Well maybe I'm wrong about that too, and Buddy driving the big truck should have found some wifi or data, so he could rub one out in the sleeper and have a nap waiting for the road to clear.

In which case the settlement might encourage everyone else to follow their company SOP to do that.

Anybody who parks his truck because of a little bit of freezing rain is soon going to find himself on the unemployment line. Regardless of what the policy manual says, dispatchers don't tolerate late loads because of a bit of weather unless it's really serious. The article says there was conflicting evidence about whether the road was icy or just damp, which probably means there were very light patches of black ice here and there, nothing that would stop a truck. There was no evidence that the truck was out of control. The verdict is pure 100% bogus. I hope it's overturned on appeal.

by **2dimes** on Sat May 19, 2018 11:57 pm

If the pick up truck lost control because of ice then hit the truck on the other side of the median...

Thing is it does seem wrong if the side the big truck was on had zero ice.

Like your first post revealed. It's a strange imperfect world.

by **nietzsche** on Sun May 20, 2018 12:59 am

it seems that's irrelevant, ehat they're trying to argue is that the manual of driving or aomething is not a rulebook or law but simply guidelines used to train drivers.. or something like that.

which do make sense, not just taking the side of the big company just for the sake of it but it seems they are not guilty of anything. at least that's what i think, from what the article linked says.

by **DoomYoshi** on Sun May 20, 2018 5:41 am

pickup trucks are notorious for spinning out, especially with an empty box.

by **riskllama** on Sun May 20, 2018 4:23 pm

Dukasaur wrote:
2dimes wrote:Well maybe I'm wrong about that too, and Buddy driving the big truck should have found some wifi or data, so he could rub one out in the sleeper and have a nap waiting for the road to clear.

In which case the settlement might encourage everyone else to follow their company SOP to do that.

Anybody who parks his truck because of a little bit of freezing rain is soon going to find himself on the unemployment line. Regardless of what the policy manual says, dispatchers don't tolerate late loads because of a bit of weather unless it's really serious. The article says there was conflicting evidence about whether the road was icy or just damp, which probably means there were very light patches of black ice here and there, nothing that would stop a truck. There was no evidence that the truck was out of control. The verdict is pure 100% bogus. I hope it's overturned on appeal.

fwii, i can sort of see why truckers in warm climates might want to pull over because of icy conditions : they simply aren't used to driving on it and probably aren't running the proper tires, either. that being said, i don't think it was his fault the pickup lost control and smashed into his rig, either.