Via email;
Keep an eye on this story (I doubt it will make the media):
I know a friend of the family of the driver. The official story was that both vehicles were moving. Look at the damage to the tow truck. It was speed limited to 115 km/h. The truck semi had to be parked. The photos are not conclusive but it looks to me they are not on the shoulder.
On a call at 4 am came over a hill – no chance.
The story I was told:
* the driver parked his truck (in the right hand travel lane) for one of his ‘daily prayers’ on the shoulder
* after the fireball the semi driver disconnected the first trailer to save it from the fire THEN called the RCMP
* the transponder / black box from the semi has been ‘misplaced’
hmm.
My God, there is no way the tow truck could have ended up in that condition if the semi trailer was moving “at highway speeds”. Utter BS from the RCMP.
‘The tow truck just came up and rear-ended the back of the semi truck at highway speeds’
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BULL TWADDLE!
I know that highway. The speed limit is 110. There is absolutely no way for that kind of damage if the semi had been moving at highway speed.
And there is an expectation that the circumstances will be investigated further? Not bloody likely!
A couple of things:
1. The tow truck frame should be bent between the front and rear axle if it hit a stationary truck while traveling at 110 km/hr. There appears to be no visible damage behind the cab of the tow truck – very strange.
2. The cab of the tow truck caught fire. It the tow truck hit the back of the truck and the speed differential was only 30-40 km/hr I doubt the cab would have caught fire.
3. The truck and the tow truck appear to be very close to one another. If the truck was traveling at 110 km/hr and was struck by a faster moving tow truck (that caught fire), why wouldn’t the initial impact slow the tow truck down substantially or change its course. It seems parked directly behind the truck as if it rode underneath and became stuck. It was close enough so that the truck caught fire. This suggests a high speed differential.
Condolences to the family. May the truth come out. Impossible to believe the truck was traveling at highway speed and was rammed by a tow truck traveling at 110 + (100?) km/hr to create such damage to the cab.
This accident happened in August 2017?
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any sort of halfway competent forensic traffic analysis would be able to determine
the speed differential between the vehicles at time of impact. if they were both
traveling at highway speeds the speed differential would be what… 10-20 kph?
that tow truck looks like it was hit with a cruise missile.
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the farce see ’em pee is one of if not *the* most politicized large organizations in the cuntry
To my untrained eyes that was more than a bumper tap between to vehicles moving at approximately the same speed.
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“the transponder / black box from the semi
has been ‘misplaced'”
sweet baby jebus… and no one… media, police
or insurance companies has a problem with
this travesty?
sounds like negligent homicide to me.
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Being similarly untrained I would agree. I have been at enough accidents over the years to realize that what you say has validity.
Race will bury the truth?
Just a point about impact. The chassis of the tow truck it would seem did not connect with any part of the transport therefore the frame would suffer very little if not any impact/structural damage as it would have if it had contacted a smaller truck where the chassis’ would have lined up. Similarly in a rear end collision where the back vehicle brakes seconds before impact the braking factor causes a nose down impact and the front of the rear car tends to dip below the chassis of the front car, resulting in comparatively little chassis damage to either vehicle as the bodywork of both vehicles tends to absorb the shock of collision, rather than the impact of two chassis’ meeting in a straight line.
If that was a turnpike set of trailers, eg two 53′ trailers pulled by one tractor, as it would seem by the reference to “the first trailer”, they are speed limited to 98 kph but can get as slow as 80kph on hills. I hope we hear some followup on this.
Not surprised. I’ve seen Calgary cabbies get out and do their prayer. I’m so sorry for the tow truck driver.
Sounds like collision collusion to me.
Just an afterthought if the ‘B’ train was travelling at highway speed when struck the driver would have taken a certain amount of highway space to bring his rig to a halt. Controlled braking even in an emergency situation would dictate that there would be more distance between the two vehicles as is indicated in the photos. At highway speeds after impact would also dictate that the tow truck would have veered off of the highway. There is no way that an accident investigator can pawn this off as an accident, this would appear to be an apparent criminal disregard for the highway traffic act, and open invitation to a motor manslaughter charge. As Kate has mentioned we’ll watch for the outcome. Condolences to the family of the tow truck driver.
Without sounding flippant this may be an instance of our Canadian diversity resulting in a clash of civilizations.
I know that section, too. T-truck didn’t just “come over the hill”, he came down the hill well to the right of the photo, onto the flats & probably at about 120-130 kmph. It’s a fairly steep hill, but collision is out on the flats. Speed limit on the TC is 110 max, from Winnipeg to Banff. If the semi was moving when they collided, he wasn’t moving very fast relative to the T-truck when it hit. Or it was pretty much stopped. Supposed to have 4-ways flashing under 60 kmph if moving? Lights were on & operative?
It’s also 4 lanes, 2 east, 2 west. Even in the dark at 04000H T-truck had room to pass on the left, surprised or not. Daylight in late August is about 0600 H. T-truck driver was asleep, momentarily? I’ve done that when tired & seen it, too. Also, if both vehicles doing hwy speeds at 110-120 kmph as stated, what would the collision speed be to do that kind of damage to moving vehicles? It looks full on, so semi stopped, dead slow, or hit the brakes when the guy pulled up behind, to do that kind of damage. No appearance T-truck tried to avoid collision. Again, was T-truck asleep & did not pass on the left to avoid the semi? Did semi even have lights on the back trailer to be seen? I’ve seen that, too.
Too many poorly asked questions here. Disclosure: I worked SE & E of Calgary as far as Manitoba on & off for some 20 years. Unless it’s fog conditions or blowing snow, visibility is unimpeded out there. Drove it for years at night in all conditions & seasons. That section of hwy has hills going west from Bassano until you get to Strathmore, but none of them are “come over the hill” type & be suddenly surprised by anything, unless stopped with no lights in the right hand lane. It’s wide arsed prairie, everywhere. The trees in that photo are the only ones out there, pretty much.
As for black box, no mention of one in the CBC story.
So, I checked Google Maps & about 15 km east of Strathmore there is a row of trees just north of the hwy, like the ones in the photo. Only stretch like it in that area, before Strathmore. Google doesn’t do the hill justice, but tell me if you would not see a semi plodding along that section of 4 lane, or doing “highway speed” at night, late August & not pass it on the left.
Want my 2 cents….semi was stopped on the hwy with no lights.
Check the transponders from Moe’s previous trucks and see if he stops and prays.
Like that’s gonna happen…
Well, if we’re going to speculate how about:
Semi Truck stops at around 4a.m. so driver can pray to his devil. Tow truck driver pulls up behind to see if assistance is required. A confrontation ensues. Semi driver takes a tire iron to tow truck driver, dumps him in the tow truck cab, backs his semi-trailer smashing into the tow truck, lights it on fire (note cab only is totalled).
Pulls forward and unhitches his rear semi-trailer from the front semi-trailer. Calls the RCMP.
(I know, I’ve been watching too much TV).
Just to play silly bugger: the story reports both trucks were in motion, it doesn’t say they were moving in the same direction.
No, it doesn’t. But unless one of the vehicles was stopped, the damage on the front of one and the back of the other says either they were going in the same direction and the rear vehicle hit the front, or the front vehicle was reversing toward the approaching rear vehicle.
They may not be able to figure some of the exact details, but forensic collision investigators can deduce the fundamentals.
We all know RCMP never lie.
“We all know RCMP never lie.”
You’re not being fair. They only lie to get a conviction.
So, doing some more forensics: weather Strathmore AB 29 August 2017 @ 0400 H – 13.9C, dew point 10.7C, humidity 81%, wind NE @ 13 kmph, visibility no input, so that says “good” to me. No low lying fog.
https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/CPST/2017/8/29/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=
Moon was first quarter & set 23:58 29 August, no moon at collision time.
Wouldn’t a semi truck stopped on the side of the highway be required by law to put up flares or safety triangles?
And I agree that it is getting pretty hard to take the RCMP seriously when they don’t offer any explanations as in this recent case.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/okotoks-throat-slash-hoax-1.4418931
A reported attack against a teenage girl in Okotoks, Alta. — which attracted widespread attention after the girl’s family said her throat was cut by a stranger — didn’t actually happen, RCMP said Friday.
Prayer time was closer to 5:00 https://www.islamicfinder.org/world/canada/5913490/calgary-prayer-times/#monthly
I saw almost the same accident scene on an uphill stretch of the Coquihalla hiway October 2016.
It should be easy to determine whether the tractor trailer was stationery or not. There will debris (headlight glass, plastic bits, etc) scattered at the point of impact. If the debris is at the burn site and not behind it the tractor trailer was stationary.
Also any mud or underneath the vehicles will have been dislodged.
I’ll remind readers this is just one reader’s email, I shared it for interest’s sake. Interesting comments though.
My high school physics class taught me that … Momentum = mass x velocity. The ABRUPT change of momentum is what causes damage. When two objects share the same (or nearly same) velocity … the equation is reduced to mass vs mass. If both these vehicles were moving at similar speeds, then I would expect the compact mass of the Tow truck (its big ass engine) to WIN bigly over the flimsy box trailer and its (Likely) light load.
The evidence DOES NOT match the story. Who or what is being covered up.
If the Semi was driving at 100K and the tow truck was doing 130 or 140 K, there would be a considerable collision. I doubt however that the tow truck would stay so close to the semi, especially with it’s engine destroyed. It would also take a considerable amount of distance to stop the semi, I doubt that both vehicles would stop at the exact same place. I’ll go with the semi stopped, but why didn’t the driver of the tow truck see the semi?? This is in the heat of summer and in broad daylight?? I was in Calgary on the 29th, great weather!
This is the story from Strathmore Standard.
https://www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress/
I don’t think the article is claiming that the cops are claiming that *both* trucks were moving at highway speeds but that the tow truck *hit* the semi at highway speed – which must be from the press release by Capt Obvious, RMCP as, of course, if the semi was stationary and the tow truck was traveling *on the highway*, its going to do.
But this is definitely some major negligence by the semi driver as anyone with a lick of sense, let alone a ‘professional’ driver, should know not to stop in the lane of travel just over a blind hill. Hell, even if he had stopped, simply stepping out of the truck and looking back should have made him worry about being hit in that position.
Sidenote: As for the prayer, the dude had all night to do that one. He couldn’t have found a better place earlier?
and the semi drivers name was?????
A double trailer combination that was moving, hit by a tow truck at enough of a speed differential to do that much damage, would have scissored the trailers. Plus it takes 150 to 175 meters to stop a truck at that speed, so there would be debris for that distance. Finally, for that much damage to the tow truck, it would have required a speed differential of 100 kmh or greater, so if the tractor trailer was at highway speed, the tow truck would have to be going 200 kph. I am pretty sure that tow truck fitted out, was not capable of that speed.
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sask watch says… and the tow truck was doing 130 or 140 K”
that’d be a neat trick… as tow truck was “speed limited to 115 km/h”.
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Speed limiters?? Ha Ha!!
https://www.my-fleet.com/speed-limiter-tampering.php