If you get in an accident with a truck, you’re dead meat.

And neither you nor your family will get bupkis. Case in point: the Interstate 5 pileup in a tunnel near Santa Clarita in October 2007, which killed 3 people and 33 trucks and a car. (33 trucks in a row? Remind me never to drive there.) The crashes turned the nearby tunnel into a fiery inferno, melting cars and people. (another reference to hell in SoCal.) Fatalities included a little boy who was burned alive in his father’s truck.

The I-5 tunnel fire that killed 3 and burnt 34 trucks may not even have happened! Photo by AP, via Popular Photography.

The Times article says:

CHP investigators determined that Jose Reyes, 29, was driving at least 65 mph along the rain-slicked freeway when his truck veered left and crashed into a concrete median wall after driving through the tunnel, according to the prosecutor’s memo obtained by The Times…

Reyes’ crash set off chain-reaction collisions behind him that killed a 6-year-old boy and two adults, and injured 10 others…

But as traffic slowed, other trucks collided near the tunnel exit, leading to the fatal accidents about four to five minutes after Reyes’ crash. Flames shot through the 550-foot tunnel, trapping motorists and melting vehicles as temperatures inside soared to about 1,500 degrees.

A spokeswoman for Georgia-based  Saia Motor Freight Line Inc., issued a statement Tuesday saying that the company’s vehicle had been regularly maintained and met state and federal safety requirements. The fatalities in the tunnel, she said, were unrelated to Reyes’ accident.

The company went on to say that there really was no tunnel, it was just a big barbeque pit, and the driver, Reyes, enjoyed a fine cup of coffee afterwards, on their dime.

Popular Mechanics analyzed the crash last winter, before the facts were in.  They said the tunnel is dangerous on its own. (although there was no previous history of accidents, from what I could find. And, of course, Reyes was on the other side of the tunnel when he jackknifed, so, not.) They also gave the info that it happened at 10 PM. Drink and drive? Who knows, no one was tested in the emergency. But, yeah.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Courtney Armendariz wrote up the investigation and report. Courtney seems to be a very intuitive attorney: she argued both sides of the case, just guessing what Reyes and Saia would say in court,  without, actually, you know, going to court.  

She said the driver would say it’s the truck’s fault, and the lawyers would do tests to show he was driving much slower, and the company would say their trucks were in perfect condition and it’s the tunnel’s fault. Oh, and the drivers behind him, damn them. (Oh, did I mention that CHP had to shut down that tunnel and route for an entire month? Everyone loves a good road closure, and time and gas lost.)

Courtney’s conclusion was: why bother, if we might not win? NO CHARGES AT ALL WILL BE FILED. The dead people, drivers, city, county, and state can just suck it. Saved the county some work, I guess. And saved both Reyes and Saia millions of dollars in legal fees. Los Angeles liberal? Nah.

I looked up Saia Truckers. They make over $976 million (MILLION) annually, with over 10,000 trucks. Yeah, they’re on top of every detail. They’re intrastate and go everywhere. I’ve investigated intrastate trucking before, and the FMCA has almost no power over them. And the state only has jurisdiction when the company is located in that state. This is how and why moving companies are able to literally HIJACK their customers’ goods, quite often, as it happens. (Happened to me with my car.)

I just got my new car insurance bill yesterday. Car is older, but insurance is up. Now we know why, and what I’m paying for: scuzzy truckers and evil truck insurance companies.

It’s obvious Saia isn’t interested in what happens in California. They will probably blame every accident they have here, or have had here, on our deserts, or mountains, or tunnels, or those damn lemon trees. Even when one of their drivers and one of their trucks is involved. Death and destruction? Not their problem. I suggest that the State of California ban Saia Truckers from ever doing business here again. That way, they don’t have to be concerned with our people or topography. And they can go make barbeques elsewhere. Win-win.

Hat tip to LA Observed. He scans the news so I don’t have to.