Always Properly Secure Your Load! Trucker Guilty of Double Manslaughter

[Rara Avis]

Just in case you needed another reminder to always properly secure your load, the verdict has come back on a case from 2009 where a driver was charged with two counts of second-degree involuntary manslaughter when the bulldozer he was carrying on his flatbed fell off the side and killed two women who were driving their vehicle in the opposite direction.

27-year-old driver Adam L. Steinmann was found guilty on both charges, and also of driving with a suspended license. According to the indictment, Steinmann was driving his truck 殿t an excessive speed around a curve with an improperly secured tractor When he went around the curve, there were cautionary signs for 30 miles per hour, and an expert testified the minimum speed [Steinmann was traveling] would have been 42 mph,

Meg Eveland, assistant prosecuting attorney for St. Charles County, said that the 42,000-pound bulldozer Steinmann was hauling was not held in place by any chains or straps, but was only secured by two binders. She said the total support weight of the two binders was around 14,000 pounds. An expert testified at the trial that the total weight should have been at least half the weight of the item being secured (around 21,000 pounds). Not only was the weight insufficient, but the binders being used were sub-par. One binder had been broken and welded back together, and the binder hooks were different sizes.

The bulldozer came off of the trailer where the curve in the road was tightest and crushed the car that 63-year-old Judith Ulery, and her 86-year-old mother, Elsie Sherman, were driving. Both were removed from the scene, but later died from their injuries.

Steinmann is not the only one with litigation against him. A civil suit is pending against Steinmann and his father, Adam Steinmann who helped him secure the load. The suit also names their company, Steinmann and Sons Grading, Inc; Lamke Trenching & Excavating Inc.; and Lester J. Lamke, owner of the bulldozer.

So remember, when you take a load you think might be unsafe, or skimp on the pre-trip inspection, it痴 not just you that you should be worried about. Always properly secure your load!

Source: Land Line Magazine: The Business Magazine for Professional Truckers

 

[MoKelly]

Also, don't drive with a suspended license and don't go around curves at excessive speeds. This guy appears to be a real piece of work and his actions caused the death of 2 innocent people. He belongs in jail.

MoKelly

 

[EddieWalker]

So scary to know that this happens all the time. A friend of mine investigates insurance claims that include deaths on highways. He has all sorts of stories of things coming off of trucks and killing somebody. Small stuff to full lengths of pipes.

Eddie

 

[slowzuki]

How on earth do you secure a 20 ton dozer with only 2 binders and no chains? You need at least 4 on a dozer, they slide easily sideways on a float. Some of the local guys have a lip on the edge of the float to keep them on while loading.

 

[k0ua]

A friend of mine and his dad ran an excavation company a few years back, and they hired another guy.. The "other guy" put a Case 580K on a trailer and did not secure it at all. Just drove it on the trailer lowered the bucket and set the brake.. He went around a sharp curve at about 60 and guess what.. It fell off!. Fortunately no one was hurt, just a banged up 580K. He said he was "just going a couple of miles."

James K0UA

 

[mfreund]

No matter what he gets it won't be enough to bring the ladies back......Sad.

 

[slowzuki]

I should have mentioned, you need at least 4 to keep the dozer on the float, but that won't get you past DOT, you need to chain the blade down too up here.

 

[firedog]

Also note that the owner of the bulldozer was sued as well. They generally file on everyone involved or even remotely involved. Some years ago, a friend of mine was involved with a little league team and were having a BBQ fundraiser. They cooked all night at an away location and in the morning loaded up headed to the field. One of the pit trailers came loose from the truck went across the road and hit a car head on. The driver and passenger were both killed. Those involved in the suit were: the driver of the truck, the owner of the trailer, the little league assoc; the hitch manufacturer, and the person accused of hooking the trailer up (my friend).
Makes you think twice about loaning your equip or trailer out.

 

[rd_macgregor]

One of my wife's horsey friends recently lost her Toyota Tundra in a similar way. She thought it was bad that she had a mechanical problem that required towing (while out of province), but was really surprised to find out the vehicle was totalled on the way home when it came off the flatbed because it wasn't chained down (just the front winch cable). Fortunately, nobody hurt in that incident.
BOB

 

[MoKelly]

Also note that the owner of the bulldozer was sued as well. They generally file on everyone involved or even remotely involved. Some years ago, a friend of mine was involved with a little league team and were having a BBQ fundraiser. They cooked all night at an away location and in the morning loaded up headed to the field. One of the pit trailers came loose from the truck went across the road and hit a car head on. The driver and passenger were both killed. Those involved in the suit were: the driver of the truck, the owner of the trailer, the little league assoc; the hitch manufacturer, and the person accused of hooking the trailer up (my friend).
Makes you think twice about loaning your equip or trailer out.

This is very true and just the way lawyers work today to try to get compensation for their clients. Sue everybody even remotely involved hoping somewhere there is a deep pocket that will settle rather than endure the costs and hassle of the legal system. That is why insurance is essential. Absolutely, positively, essential.

MoKelly

 

[GLyford]

This is very true and just the way lawyers work today to try to get compensation for their clients. Sue everybody even remotely involved hoping somewhere there is a deep pocket that will settle rather than endure the costs and hassle of the legal system. That is why insurance is essential. Absolutely, positively, essential.

Often, it's the insurance companies deciding who to sue. After all, they had to pay out money to cover the accident and they're going to do everything they can to get it back from someone. Paying out claims with money collected from premium payments is only to be used as a last resort, even though permiums go up every time they have to pay out something even if they get their money back from another party. And of course, any excess they get from the suit never gets back to the injured party.

 

[slowzuki]

I've got a totalled Chevy Sprint out back, my sister had it towed home, they didn't chain it right and wrote it off. They refused to pay as they claimed the car was scrap already because it was being brought home for a frame repair.

One of my wife's horsey friends recently lost her Toyota Tundra in a similar way. She thought it was bad that she had a mechanical problem that required towing (while out of province), but was really surprised to find out the vehicle was totalled on the way home when it came off the flatbed because it wasn't chained down (just the front winch cable). Fortunately, nobody hurt in that incident.
BOB

 

[MarkV]

Reminds me of something that happened to us a few years ago. The wife and I were driving to O'Hare airport in Chicago after visiting my folks. We were in a rental car on the tollway not far from the airport when all of a sudden the rear window of the car exploded. I mean really exploded throwing glass over us and the front of the car. I thought we had been in a drive by shooting at first. We pulled over rather shaken and the guy behind us was good enough to stop and tell us what happened. Said a piece of metal coming from a flat bed 18 wheeler had hit the back of the car causing the window to break. Looking closer we were lucky because the metal piece, whatever it was, hit on the edge of the window right on the trim piece breaking the glass. Not sure if it had hit center on if it would have made it to the back of our heads but there was glass from the back window on the front dash. Of course it cost us deductibles, a missed flight and an extra night in Chicago plus hotel. I think we may have been lucky overall though.

MarkV

 

[RDrancher]

I'm amazed how many times during the week that I see skid steers and tractors being transported without proper tie downs. There are a couple of guys around here hauling skid steers with a strap running through the handles as the only means of restraint. Yesterday I glanced into a dump trailer parked at the local big box store and was shocked when I saw that the mini-ex onboard had no tie downs at all!

 

[Rara Avis]

I'm amazed how many times during the week that I see skid steers and tractors being transported without proper tie downs. There are a couple of guys around here hauling skid steers with a strap running through the handles as the only means of restraint. Yesterday I glanced into a dump trailer parked at the local big box store and was shocked when I saw that the mini-ex onboard had no tie downs at all!

This is just spooky...