String of fatal big rig crashes hits Sacramento-area freeways. What’s causing the wrecks?
Editor’s note: As a supplement to this story, here are six ways you can protect yourself when driving near large trucks.
Near Elk Grove last week, a commercial truck on Highway 99 plowed into the back of a pickup, killing its two occupants as it shoved their vehicle into the back of a big rig.
That same day, seven commercial trucks crashed on Interstate 80 in Placer County in chain-reaction incidents, blocking the freeway for hours as firefighters pried an injured occupant from an overturned big rig.
Two other motorists were killed in crashes with big rigs in January on highways in Lincoln and Yuba City, and another was killed on Interstate 5 near Merced when a big rig crossed the median and hit his car head-on.
Those and other recent headline-making truck crashes in the Sacramento region have stoked longstanding worries. Central Valley and mountain highways around the capital region are more congested than ever with commuter cars and commercial trucks.
How dangerous is that mix becoming, and what can be done to ease the risks?
California Highway Patrol officials said the recent series of crashes may represent a cluster or momentary spike rather than a trend. But it is concerning, nonetheless, they said.
The recent crashes follow a double fatality last March when a tow truck flew off the tall Highway 50 Pioneer Memorial Bridge spanning the Sacramento River downtown after apparently making contact with a big rig. The tow truck plummeted into the river, killing the driver and his wife. That incident is still under investigation.
“This is something obviously in the limelight now, and obviously a concern,” said CHP Valley Division spokesman Mike Harris. He said he can’t attribute the recent crashes to any particular cause. “We all have to work together to get where we are going.”
Reality about big rig truck crashes
Clusters of similar-type crashes generally point to a problem, even if the spike is a momentary anomaly. The Sacramento region a few years ago experienced a string of catastrophic car versus car head-on freeway collisions caused by confused wrong-way drivers. Those crashes abated, but they provoked state highway officials to add more safety devices and warnings at off-ramps.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports truck-crash fatalities were up 12 percent nationally between 2009 and 2018. National safety officials say that increase is largely of result of having more trucks on the road post-recession.
“With a better economy, we have more crashes and deaths,” said Eric Teoh of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “As our economy continues to grow, this is one of the side effects.”
Car drivers may have been at fault in several of the recent big rig crashes, not truck drivers, highway officials said. A federal trucking official underscored that concern this week in testimony at Congress. The Yuba City and Lincoln fatalities involved cars hitting trucks. And in October, a Prius driver was killed on I-5 in Elk Grove when he ran into the back of a stopped big rig, his car ending up largely under the rig with most of the top half of his vehicle sheared off.
American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear pointed the finger at distracted car drivers, saying crashes with trucks are “fueled largely by the growing addiction to speeding and texting.”
Regardless of fault, the incidents highlight a harsh reality. When cars collide with big trucks, the car driver is far more likely to be injured or killed. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 72 percent of fatalities were occupants of smaller vehicles, and 10 percent were motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians, while only 18 percent were occupants of the trucks.
300 crash deaths in California
Overall in California, CHP crash data show that injuries and deaths in large truck crashes had been stable over the past five years as of 2019, prior to the recent cluster in the Sacramento region. Nevertheless, that amounts to roughly 300 people killed and 7,000 injured on an annual basis in truck collisions, a death number second only to Texas.
Crash injuries also have remained roughly the same over the past five years in Sacramento County, prior to the January uptick. However, crash injuries are up in Placer County, which is bisected by Interstate 80, a commercial corridor. Those increases may be accounted for by the fact that the area went from drought conditions to heavier snowfall years, making the mountain highways more dangerous.
The recent crashes also highlight a problematic dual role for Sacramento metropolitan-area freeways.
Two of the capital city’s main commuter freeways also happen to be two of the busiest commercial truck freight corridors in the West, I-5 and I-80. The Sacramento region also is seeing more FedEx, Amazon and other delivery trucks on the road as consumers turn more to online shopping.
Injuries aside, big truck crashes tend to cause lengthier freeway closures, sometimes because crews must clean up truck spillage and sometimes because of the difficulty of pulling overturned tractor-trailer rigs off the road. Several local crashes in recent years have left big rigs wrapped over concrete center dividers, blocking freeway lanes in both directions.
A few freeways in Southern California have brief separated sections for trucks and cars, but that bifurcation is costly and unlikely to happen on a wider basis in the state.
Interstate 5 trouble spot in Sacramento
Interstate 5 through downtown Sacramento represents a particularly tight squeeze for long-haul truckers headed to market and commuters headed to work. Big trucks are legally allowed on that section to move to the left to avoid the ramp merge lanes on the right, but that only adds to the downtown freeway’s general confusion.
It’s led to complaints and concerns from both car drivers and truck drivers.
Sacramento Bee reader Denny Blehm feels more truck drivers are discourteous and often speed. “The second those huge trucks exceed their 55 mph speed limit and jump to the other lanes, the buffer for error is gone.”
ReuvenEpstein of Galt prefers the slow lane when he travels to Sacramento on Highway 99, but finds himself too often sandwiched between FedEx trucks and other big rigs whose drivers he does not trust. “It sure looks they are tailgating to me. They are right on top of each other.”
But California Trucking Association president Greg Dubuque, owner of Liberty Linehaul West, Inc., said most truckers are both responsible and careful because their livelihood depends on safe travel.
Dubuque said truckers deal with more car drivers who are on their cell phones and who cut in front of trucks or who hover in truckers’ blind spots. Dubuque said car drivers may not be aware of how long it takes for large heavy trucks to slow down or stop in traffic, although truck brake technology has improved.
“In an urban area, we have to stay on our game,” he said. “I look ahead for trouble.”
Traffic safety officials launch ‘blind spot’ alerts
Trucking officials point out that when measured per miles driven, truck-involved fatalities are far lower than they were in the 1970s and 1980s, thanks to safety improvements such as seat belts. But recent data show that number has stopped dropping in the last five years.
The California Trucking Association and the California Office of Traffic Safety have teamed on a campaign to warn car drivers that truckers have larger blind spots where truck drivers cannot see cars traveling in the adjacent lane near the rear of the truck. As part of that campaign, some trucks in California have messaging on their sides telling other drivers where that blind spot is.
Teoh, of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, says the trucking industry, though, can do more to increase safety. His group is pushing for a federal requirement for “electronic logging” to reduce fatigue-related crashes. The electronic system essentially monitors how many hours truckers are on the road so that they do not drive beyond the legal hour limits.
His group also is encouraging sturdier “rear under ride guards,” which are metal bars at the back end of a truck that helps prevent cars from getting wedged under the truck during a crash.
As well, both truck and car fleets slowly are adding electronic safety devices, but trucking officials and highway safety officials warn that drivers still must maintain vigilance while driving, and not overly rely on in-car safety devices.
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.