Sunday, October 9, 2011

Maybe we need some "Truck Ed" around here too?

Sheesh. Two tractor trailers have lost it and crashed in two days on one of our most popular bike rides, New Mexico Rt. 4, just above Back Gate. From those pictures in the LA Monitor, it sure is lucky no one on a bike or motor vehicle was in the way. Its also good to know how to descend that road really fast, I guess. Faster than an outa control eighteen wheeler, that is. I better stop trying to lose weight. One's survival might hinge on bike handling skills in the face of up to 80,000 pounds on eighteen wheels.

Is it my imagination, or have there not always been a few big rigs driving that route? Is it more than coincidence that both trucks were from the same company (according to the Monitor, it is BB Transport of Colorado) and both loaded with crushed cars?  Did anyone at that company train its drivers to handle our twisty switchback mountain roads? Colorado's got mountains, right? Did they check the maps? Drive the course? Check if the fully loaded eighteen wheeler could even make those awful turns?

We are lucky no one, including those drivers, was hurt or killed. I think the NMDOT better look at this before we are not so lucky.

Let's be careful out there. Lotta diesel still in the pavement after the cleanup. Watch those corners.

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