Two men were killed in a solo big rig accident Monday afternoon on westbound Interstate 80 near the Magra Road exit, closing westbound lanes until 8 p.m.

The identity of the two men, believed to be from Colorado, has not been released pending notification of next of kin.

The driver, who was found trapped inside the truck’s cab, was reportedly going 70 mph as he passed another truck.

As he moved back into the slow lane, the driver apparently lost control and the big rig went over the embankment, said California Highway Patrol Officer Rich Ruiz.

Investigators were able to review video footage of the accident, which was recorded by a device on the Wal-Mart truck that was being passed.

Since the Wal-Mart truck driver was doing 55 mph, CHP officials estimate the big rig was going 70 mph, reports Ruiz.

“After passing the Wal-Mart truck and going back into the slow lane, the driver started losing control,” Ruiz said, adding the driver overcorrected as the trailer began to fishtail.

The truck tipped over on its right side and plowed into the guardrail dumping the load of recycled plastic down the embankment.

The driver died at the scene, however, the co-driver’s body wasn’t found until Tuesday morning, Ruiz said.

“The investigating officer was going over the log book, which had information indicating there may have been a co-driver,” Ruiz said.

Cal Fire firefighters and CHP officers returned to the scene and found the co-driver’s body buried under the debris.

When the truck overturned, the cab was torn off and was buried beneath the contents of the trailer, he explained. The second driver was apparently in the sleeping berth of the truck when it crashed.

http://www.colfaxrecord.com/detail/92720.html

Ed note: The speed limit for all vehicles pulling trailers is 55 MPH on all California highways.

In Doug Stotlar's letter to the editor "Put brakes on fuel use to benefit environment", published July 31, 2008 in the Indianapolis Star, real leadership emerges. A few key quotes from his letter:

"In our collective view, sustainability is no longer an altruistic or abstract notion. The need to adopt more sustainable business practices belongs at the top of our agendas."

"But we cannot do it alone. We need the support of Congress, the regulatory agencies and our political leaders."

"Lower the speed limits. Work together to make our trucking fleets more efficient. Encourage support for more productive trucks. We'll all be the better for it."

Drive55.org thanks Mr. Stotlar for his leadership - Drive 55 bumper stickers are on the way to Con-way corporate headquarters.

Drive55.org is asking Truckers to help out by documenting your mileage, speed, time and fuel consumption. We are all interested in how this affects your bottom line in the real world as this also impacts overall shipping costs nationwide. Please download a blank Real World Vehicle Efficiency Report form and make a few copies. Use the form to document your actual consumption and fax it in so we can publish the data.
 
To encourage your participation I am offering free Drive 55 bumper stickers to Trucking professionals that want one. To get yours, please send me your name and mailing address through the contact form on the website.

Thank you for the difficult work you do, and for your support of Freedom from Foreign Oil, Energy Independence, and Liberty to Travel in America!

Let's each take a load 825 miles @ $1.30 per mile = $1072.50. We will pay $5 gallon for fuel. You will drive 75 MPH  and get 5 MPG ($1 per mile) and I'll go 55 MPH and get 7 MPG (.71 cents per mile).**

You will get there in 11 hours and spend $825 on fuel for a gross profit of $247.50, divided by 11 hours works out to $22.50 per hour. It will take me longer, 15 hours, but I only spend $585.70 on fuel so my gross profit is $486.8 divided by 15 = $32.45 per hour. Granted I will have a ten hour sleep period, but when I wake up and hit the road it will be at $32.45 an hour and you will still be getting $22.50. Correct me if I'm wrong, but with fuel at $5 gallon it looks like you could earn an extra $10 an hour when you Drive 55.

** "Excessive speed is the largest single factor in reduced fuel mileage. A general rule of thumb is that every mph increase above 50 mph reduces fuel mileage by 0.1 mpg."
Kenworth White Paper on Fuel Economy, March 2006. http://www.kenworth.com/FuelEconomyWhitePaper.pdf

Roger Pomerleau writes:

I lowered the maximum speed on my commercial fleet of 60 Tractor Trailers by 4 MPH and saved 70,000 gallons of diesel fuel in a year... that's $300,000.

If the speed limit could be maxed at 55 I could save 150,000 gallons more or an additional $ 675,000.

It is just not safe to drive tractor trailers at 55 until the law is changed.