Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What possesses a truck driver to do this sort of thing?

There are about 6 signs long before they get to the bottom of the pass that say NO TRAILERS. Those same signs say no trucks over 60,000lbs and yet at least once a month some "driver" decides to ignore all that and give it a try. It took me 10 minutes extra to drive the canyon rather than the pass, in an SUV in the summertime. It'd be a dead heat or perhaps faster for a tractor trailer, especially in winter. Why do the knuckle heads take the risk?

JACKSON HOLE, WYO - Once again a semi tractor trailer attempted to sneak over the Pass. It could not have come at a worse time.

Conditions on Teton Pass at the time (just before 5pm) made for difficult travel for any vehicle. WYDOT was issuing a "winter conditions" chain law in effect advisory this afternoon. The trucker also made a gamble right smack in the middle of the rush hour commute home.

The result was a stuck truck needing assistance up and over. The trucker was cited for being overweight and for ignoring road closure to trailer.
Tractor-trailer was cited and towed over the pass into Wyoming, holding up commuters for an hour. (Elisa San Souci)

The incident will no doubt reignite conversations about increasing the penalties truckers face when they opt for a shorter route into Wyoming from decision points like Swan Valley, Idaho. Currently, the fine for bringing a trailer over Teton Pass between Nov. 15 and April 1, when the pass is closed to trailer traffic, is set at $420. Overweight trucks could also face a citation of up to $740, depending on how much over the 60,000-pound limit they are.

And you have to ask why?

You have to realize that he is a professional who is making a living, which renders all of those people that suffered a minor inconvenience due to his actions less deserving of the road.

About the only benefit is they bypass the scales in Alpine. There is an unmanned scale at the Wyoming line at the bottom of the pass. I've maintained that WYDOT needs to man that scale 24/7. Hang the cost and just do it. Create a dozen more jobs.

Love the photo bomb by the backcountry skier. Prolly some good powder skiing up on the pass. I've skied both Jackson Hole and Targhee. 30" one day at Targhee was pretty awesome and this before fat, rockered tip skis.

Forget the inconvenience. There is a 10% grade on that pass that lasts for a long time. Add in the crappy road conditions and it's just dangerous to HIMSELF and everyone else.

There is a fairly large cadre of back country skiers that hike up to Glory Bowl and ski. Teton County Search and Rescue stays busy bring down wounded skiers.

We still need a sarcasm icon.

No, I picked up on the sarcasm. I thought the article completely missed the point. I witnessed a rollover at the base of the pass while we were sitting on the deck of a restaurant last summer. Same old stupid.

WE DO NEED A SARCASM FONT!!!!!!!!!!

Yup in spades.

Insane decisions by truck drivers to circumvent the scales, and also maybe cut some drive time, are stupid, dangerous decisions.

Dedicated routes in mountainous regions should be reserved for those drivers, who follow the law, and know what dangers may entail in those regions. Driver-owners that goes for them as well.
Its just plain nuts, that they have a ton of signs posted, and still have to contend with trucker lawbreakers. Fines should be more.

"Why do the knuckle heads take the risk?"

50%+ of US voters voted for HRC....
Just sayin

Maybe lawbreaking truck drivers should also be drug tested more often as well....

But maybe those signs are just "suggestions" like speed limit signs and those who choose to disobey them should castigate those who choose to obey them. (again, sarcasm)

From last summer

I've worked in the transportation industry since 1984. And some days I scratch my head when I see this type of thing.

About 15-20 years ago, we had a driver take off down an old abandoned logging road near Medford, OR. Signs all over that read "DEAD END". But, because he had a map that showed the road went all the way to Yreka, CA. he just kept going. When he finally got to the end of the road... the DEAD END road, he had to walk out. About 30 miles... to get help.

We had to send pick up trucks to unload the freight into. Take it about 10 miles down the logging road to a wide spot, and load the freight into a different trailer. Then we had to custom fab a "dolly" to hook the original trailer landing gear to so they could tow the "stuck" trailer back to the wide spot. Then he had to go back and get the tractor... Backing down 10 miles of winding abandoned logging road each time. This is not easy... or cheap.

When all was said and done, I think that this cost our company about $10k back in the day.

And this kind of crap happens everyday. When asked why ? Our driver responded "I wanted to take the scenic route".

Professionals are expected to know the rules and follow them.

Back when I was guiding, if a guide got caught in a F&G violation, they got "the book" thrown at them: automatically got double the maximum penalties allowable for a non-guide for the same violation.

So, using that standard ...

This is not merely ignorance, it's contempt. First offense, $5K fine and suspension of commercial license for 15 days. Second, 10 days in jail, $10K fine, loss of commercial license for a year. Laws without teeth are no laws at all.

Tom

Gee that's my neighborhood.... your company isn't the only one...

makes me wonder if such drivers aren't Mexicans....

on the way down to the Tonto Basin, in Nevada at the Junction of US 95 and US 6, north of Tonopah, they were doing road construction...

I came thru there at 10 at night... the road was blocked, and was told the highway was closed...

they had had the road, with one lane closed and a Pilot Car to lead traffic thru the 10 miles of construction...

earlier at 3 PM, they had a batch of cars lined up, waiting for the pilot car... and some Semi didn't want to stop for it all...so he just accelerated around past the flaggers...

Unfortunately a semi was heading out of the North Bound traffic, that the pilot car had just brought thru... the Renegade Trucker, either had the choice of hitting that Semi Head at about 80 mph, or crash into a bunch of parked cars with people who'd been waiting for their turn to follow the pilot car...

he chose the latter.... Killed 5 people, plus messed up a bunch of others...at the time they were sure how many he'd killed, because officials and emergency crews hadn't got their to respond.... even by 10 Pm, the dead were still in the cars they had been killed in...

The south bound truck that didn't want to stop was driven by a Mexican, high on meth, cabin smelled like he'd been smoking dope which was found in the cab, along with empty alcohol bottles.... he's here illegally.. driving for some Trucking outfit ( Hispanic Owned) out of LA....

I took the 150 mile detour.. a lot of other vehicles idling around at 10 PM were there, as they didn't have the fuel to take the detour... there was no fuel on it... they needed to fill up in Tonopah... heard they opened the road about 7 the next morning...

had my wife, who I called at home, looking for it being on the news, and all she found was that the highway was closed, and not much else... guess the politically correct media didn't want to slander an upstanding Mexican Citizen.....

and the 5 people killed just didn't matter...

I got my story from one of the Highway Workers, who was directing people where to turn 5 miles down the detour... he was out there by himself and no other vehicles in sight...

I wonder if they just deported the Mexican...

he'd been deported multiple times according to the Highway worker, who got that from one of the Nevada State Troopers... plus the trucker had spent time in jail in California for pulling this running the construction area flaggers once before...

you just know he'll be back driving truck once again, unless Trump's Administration clamps down on this illegal immigration crap...

A couple of months ago I posted about a truck accident on the same pass. Woman with ethnic sounding name from Florida was the driver on that one. The one I posted the picture of from summer was a Haitian driver. I've no idea about the driver from the other day. There could be a pattern developing.

Up and down I 5, there sure are a lot of foreigners running that route...

Mexicans from the south end, and Indians and Pakistanis from up around Vancouver BC....

was funny turning on a CB Radio and listening to them jabboring on it while driving down the highway...

wanna piss them off, jump on the channel and tell them to speak English, as it is required by Federal Communication Laws....

They can speak enough English to get out F.U.

Liberalism marches on...

I could not be a truck driver! I hate to drive!!