On the Accident
By Mel Hansen
I was born and raised here in Garden City...lived 50 of my
58 years here. To say there should be no big rigs coming through the
canyon, is like me saying that no boats/swimming should be allowed on/in the
lake because of possible drowning. I have seen more boating/drowning accidents
on the lake than I have seen big rig accidents throughout Logan and Laketown Canyons.(That
might not be a bad idea banning both?...that would take care of both problems
and bring back some peace and quiet.)
The state has to shoulder part...a big part... of the blame.
When they did away with horse shoe bend and suicide point they increased the
lengths of the 8% grade without the options of ramps. Believe it or
not, curves most generally decrease both grade and speed. I’ve been driving big
rigs off and on since 1979. Fortunately
I’ve yet to be involved in a accident, and I can count on one hand how many
times I could see or smell smoke from my truck or trailer brakes. But I have smelled
cars, pickups pulling boats/trailer etc. countless times while coming down both
Logan and Laketown Canyons and seen more fatalities from those loss of brake
failures than I have big rigs.
In my professional truck driving opinion, there should be a
brake check pull out at, or just below the rest area overlook, a runaway ramp
through the new cutout, it’s basically already there, just fill it in with pea
gravel from the shoulder of the road to the rock side of the cut, and then another one just before the Chevron.
I have traveled canyons with way less grade and length than
Logan and Laketown...with as many as 4-6 ramps in them!
What I find ironic is that the state can come up with…cut
loose with...over 3 million dollars to improve the State Marina for more ease
and consideration of the almighty tourism dollar...but don’t seem to give two
hoots in Hell about two or three ramps to help improve safety and life in a
timely matter to get to the State Marina!
Accidents happen! Be it your fault...my fault...nobody’s
fault. There are dumb truck drivers...no one’s harder on my profession than
I...a lot of companies train drivers for a week or two and turn them loose!
That needs to be fixed! But there’s just as many, more in fact, of those
dummies in non professional automobiles.
The point is, you have to know your automobile and big rig!
You have to know its capabilities in all aspects of driving! Your means of
transportation is only as good as the person behind the wheel.
Be safe!...Be courteous!...but above all....for Hell sakes
be patient! There are way too many people in a big hurry to die...just to get
there a few seconds in front of someone.
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