He Would Not Drive A Truck Unless It Was In A Safe Operating Condition That He Had Knowledge Of

oalj dol gov, May 17, 2005

On the morning of January 16, 1999, soon after beginning his trip, Complainant began experiencing sporadic slowdowns (TR 49). For example, for no apparent reason, the truck would decelerate from 68 MPH down to 52 MPH (id.). Truck 401551's tendency to randomly decelerate was more severe than it had been a few days earlier, on January 11 and 12 (id.). When going uphill, the truck slowed to as low as 35 to 45 MPH (TR 55).

The truck would decelerate and then accelerate unexpectedly (TR 50). Complainant testified that, although trucks such as his will sometimes go slower on uphill grades, the slowdowns he was experiencing were considerably more severe than normal (TR 127-28). Usually, when a truck slows down on the highway, its brake lights go on; however, in this situation, no lights would signal his truck's deceleration (TR 50). When the problem began, the speed limit was 65 MPH and the flow of traffic was approximately 70 MPH (TR 51). Complainant testified that often trucks would follow each other extremely closely on this route, and that other drivers were calling him to ask what was happening to his truck (TR 51). As he drove, the problem occurred more frequently (TR 52).

During the drive, Complainant often saw, in his rear view mirror, other drivers "locking up on the brakes, running into the median, [and] doing all kinds of things to avoid hitting me" (TR 69). Complainant was concerned about the safety of operating the truck under such conditions and attempted, unsuccessfully, to contact Respondent via his cell phone to explain the situation (TR 50, 98). Complainant did not leave the highway to call Respondent because he felt pressured to make the delivery on time; he also risked losing a $50 bonus if he failed to complete his route within four hours and five minutes (TR 98-99, 108, 124). Complainant chose to continue to drive, turning his hazard lights on when his speed fell below 45 MPH and attempting to warn other truck drivers by C.B. radio (RX 9).

Complainant noted that the trip from Allentown to Landover consists of more downhill grades and, correspondingly, the trip from Landover to Allentown consists of more uphill grades (TR 54). If the truck was going as slow as 35 or 45 MPH going uphill on the way to Landover, Complainant thought that the problem would be more severe returning to Allentown (TR 55). Adding to Complainant's concern was the weather forecast for the night of Saturday, January 16; there was snow on the ground from an earlier storm and the temperature was supposed to go from well above freezing during the day to well below freezing that night, increasing the risk of black ice according to Complainant (TR 52-54).

He was concerned because black ice is difficult to detect or avoid and could easily cause a driver to lose control or a truck to jackknife, particularly if a driver is breaking or accelerating when he or she hits the black ice (TR 53-54). Specifically, Complainant thought that the risk of collision due to truck 401551 slowing down without warning was compounded by the dangers of black ice (TR 54).

Respondent submitted records of the weather forecasts for the relevant geographical areas for January 14 to 16, 1999 (TR 239-42; RX 13). For the Harrisburg- Lancaster-York, Pennsylvania areas, a winter storm warning was in effect as of the morning of Friday, January 15; freezing rain and sleet were predicted to change over to light snow, leaving damaging accumulations of ice covered by one to three inches of snow; Friday night's low temperature was predicted to be 20 to 25 degrees; Saturday was predicted to be cloudy with a high in the lower 40's; and Saturday night was predicted to be cloudy with a low temperature in the 20's (RX 13, at 10).

On Saturday, the forecasted high temperature was lowered to the upper 30's (RX 13, at 29). For the Allentown-Reading, Pennsylvania areas, as of Friday night, the forecast was for partly cloudy skies with a low temperature of 15 degrees; Saturday was predicted to be variably cloudy with a high of 35 to 40; and Saturday night was predicted to have a low of 25 to 30 (RX 13, at 37).