RUMFORD, Maine — A Carthage man escaped injury Wednesday afternoon when the pulp truck he was driving south on Route 232 rolled over and spilled its load into a field, police said.
Leonard Hutchinson, 52, was rounding the corner at 1 p.m. at the intersection of Rumford Road when the accident occurred, Rumford officer Dave Hodgson said Thursday.
“He came around the corner and was heading toward South Paris when the sun blinded him and he got into the soft shoulder and [the truck] slowly fell over,” Hodgson said.
When the rig was righted by M/T Pockets of Dixfield, Hodgson said the pulp truck lined right up with skidmarks, which indicated that speed wasn’t a factor.
He estimated damage to the 1996 Navistar International 22-wheel tractor-trailer at roughly $2,000.
Good time to grease it
Here we go with another bogus excuse for not exercising due caution and driving at the appropriate speed for the conditions.
Do you want to avoid any responsibility, including a traffic citation, after crashing your vehicle? Just use one of these handy, police-accepted excuses:
“I was blinded by the sun”
“The road was icy/snowy/wet”
“I was following the speed limit”
“The driver I was behind stopped too quickly”
“I was tired/fell asleep”
“It was foggy/rainy”
When will law enforcement wake up and start ticketing these people who endanger the rest of us every time they take to the roads?
Skid marks MEANS speed. If your not speeding you wont leave skid marks.
Where the wood has gone beyond the truck. This only points to the wood still had forward velocity. If the truck were going slowly and just tipped over, then the wood would have just poured out of the trailer.
The other thing that is missing are dangling chains or straps. Try unsecured load.
The driver is lucky none of the wood didnt torpedo the cab.
Over the years I worked many semi truck wrecks,Downeasta hit it right on the money with that comment.I heard all kinds of excuses,one guy even said he swerved to avoid a rabbit in the road.You could always tell when they fell asleep at the wheel because of the “lack”of rubber marks.