Sunday Night in Arkansas

Critter Truckin · Feb 21, 2006

The following is from my blog at http://www1.myspace.com/crittercritter ... I don't like being so long-winded, but it had to be said.

Alrighty then... Now that we're out of that God forsaken mess called Texas (more accurately San Antonio and Waco), we're headed for New York by way of Memphis. I know that you all probably don't care about my ramblings about life on the road, but something struck me as noteworthy. While driving through Arkansas last night, I saw the most horrific accident that I've had the misfortune of witnessing. It involved seven (7) vehicles, including two semi trucks. One of the semis had its front end torn off, and there was a minivan impaled through the ##### end of it. Now, most of you by now are thinking "What kind of fool is this that he would want to run the risk of that happening?" To which I'll respond thusly (did I spell that right?), being on the road gives me a sense of freedom. It's the chance everyday of being in a new place and seeing new things. Everytime I go to New York, I look for something on the skyline that I've never seen. In fact, my first trip there as a driver, I saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time. I've been to 9 new states since starting, and I get to see my son more regularly since moving back to Michigan. On the other hand, seeing a sight like I saw last night, I now know that life has a whole new finality to it. Who would think that you set out on a trip in the family car, and then lose your life to a horrible accident?

But now, I have to rip on someone. And again, this is probably crap that you all don't want to hear, but Arkansas is absolutely F'D UP when it comes to its roads after a storm. I know that ice and snow storms will arise, but it's up to the states to maintain their respective roads. The freeway that I was on (I-40), was the worst kept set of concrete that I've had the displeasure of travelling. And it has to stop now!!! I don't go off on these tangents, but someone died last night, and someone has to take the fault for it. It's a tragedy that someone has to lose their life to prove a point, but now it's time to wake the hell up. Call your Congressman or whatever it is that you feel is necessary and let them know, it's our country, and you work for US!!!

More later
Cheers

slowhand · Feb 21, 2006

T'Hawk saw the SAME accident. Horrible. Say a prayer for all involved.

cheri1122 · Feb 21, 2006

I'm glad I went through there Friday, not Sunday - accidents like that give me nightmares. I can't even imagine how it must be for those involved.
As much as I like ripping the government for it's shortcomings, though, I have to say this: the best maintained roads on earth won't prevent accidents. Drivers need to deal with the conditions that are in effect, and adjust to less than perfect everything: roads, weather, traffic, other drivers, etc. I don't know how this accident happened, but I'd be willing to bet that it was due to one or more drivers' errors.
The worst accidents I've seen were the ones that happened on a perfect, sunny day - but they serve as reminders that it can happen anytime, to anyone, even you or I.

TheGoodGuy · Feb 21, 2006

Right on about the Arkansas Roads. In 2003 we were caught up in a snow storm in Arkansas, (and it wasn't that bad of a storm). They shut down I40, for 8 hours, and when it was opened back up, it took us 10 hours to travel 140 miles west to east, and the Interstate was so ice rutted the jarring cracked our windshield. I don't think Arkansas owns a snowplow.

IMHO, Arkansas still has a long way to go, to recover from the Clinton years.

God Bless America

Critter Truckin · Feb 22, 2006

CritterTruckin is my nephew and co-driver. He was the one driving that night. You're right about accidents happening at anytime, any conditions. But these roads gave you no room for error. They were plowed right to the shoulder line, and no more. So, once you were on the road, you were on it. Several truckers had a good idea, that I wish we had thought of. US-70 runs right along I-40. We looked over and saw trucks cruising at a good pace, which told me that road was clear. It took us from 10am till midnight to get from FtWorth to Memphis, stopping for an hour for lunch. 13 hours to go 450 miles. From what I've heard about Arkansas in the past, we may have broken a record. LOL

BTW... this is T-hawk. My nephew forgot to logout LMAO

highway star · Feb 23, 2006

The southern states can't justify the expense of the level of equipment needed for a couple of bad storms a year. I'm not defending here, just observing. In the late '80's I was going through Memphis when it snowed 5" and the town was almost paralyzed. In Michigan life just moves a little bit slower. But, even in the northern states where dealing with winter storms is routine, these terrible accidents happen. A sad fact of life.

Critter Truckin · Feb 23, 2006

I understand that notion... I lived in the South for 9 years and whenever the weatherman even said "snow," the whole area would reduce itself to a big fat bunch of whiny little cry monkies.

That being said, I think it's time for every state to prepare for the worst. I know it costs a little bit, but the cost of lives is worse... not just for the lives that they will impact, but in the case of the states involved, that's more taxpayers that they are losing... you do the math.