Tanker hits parked truck in truck stop

[dash riposki]

Getting your truck hit while parked in a truckstop is pretty common. In the last 30 years, it's happened to me at least once every two years. More often than not, the driver that hits you will take off if they think nobody saw them.

This driver never got out of his truck to check the damage, then parked his truck in a different part of the truckstop, and walked back to look for damage, and to pick up a piece of his truck that broke off in the crash, and was on the ground next to the trailer he hit.
He never walked up to the cab of the truck, knocked on the door, or looked for the driver. He walked back to his parked truck, threw the piece of metal he retrieved from the crash site on the ground next to his parked truck.

When I saw the wreck, and the truck leave, I assumed he was leaving the truck stop. I started to download the video from one of my dashcams, and mistakenly unplugged the second dashcam,, so I did not capture the footage when he walked back on foot.
(I was surprised to see him, didn't realize it was the driver of the tanker, until i saw him pick up the piece of metal, and walk back to his parked truck. THEN I could see where he parked.)

Even when the other driver doesn't flee the scene,sometimes they will deny running into you. More often when they are trying to back into a parking spot next to you. I had one hit me 3 times while trying to park next to me, then denied he did it. (even though there were parts of my truck hanging off of his truck)
GET A DASHCAM! There are too many sleazebags out there.

 

[flank]

Didn't look like the trailer got damaged though. I would have started running if I seen a tanker truck crash into anything Why did he attempt a hit and run with so many eyes on him like that. You have a giant company logo on your side.

 

[dash riposki]

I was surprised the driver was sleeping in the truck. I assumed it was empty, when nobody climbed out, screaming, after what had to be a decent jolt.

You would be surprised how few witnesses step forward, even though they saw something.
Some people don't want to get involved, some think 'that could me and I wouldn't want to get caught'.
He parked a few rows away, and I think was going to sit there and see if he had been caught/seen.

There were empty parking spaces much closer.

 

[Gibson99]

I was surprised the driver was sleeping in the truck. I assumed it was empty, when nobody climbed out, screaming, after what had to be a decent jolt.

You would be surprised how few witnesses step forward, even though they saw something.
Some people don't want to get involved, some think 'that could me and I wouldn't want to get caught'.
He parked a few rows away, and I think was going to sit there and see if he had been caught/seen.

There were empty parking spaces much closer.

i guess after getting used to sleeping in a truck, esp at a loud truck stop, you get to where you can sleep through anything.

there's also the fear of bullies that's (literally) beaten into some of us during grade school. don't "tattle" or the bad guy will hurt you. sadly that still happens even with adults.

curious why the photo of the driver was mirrored at the end of the video - did you take a picture through your mirror?

i'm guessing the tanker was empty. it seemed to be riding a little high, plus it didn't drop at all when he lost 2 left tires. that may be why the sleeping trucker didn't feel it - his (possibly loaded, heavy) trailer had enough mass to make the empty tanker just bounce off without really moving the box trailer much, if at all.

 

[dash riposki]

The tanker was probably empty, that company usually hauls chemicals or other liquids that require hazmat placarding, but there are occasional things that don't require placards.

Sleeping in the truck kind of varies by person, some people wake up at anything, and others.....might as well be dead.

I usually wake up if the truck lurches, like being hit by another truck. Usually you just get a glance at a truck leaving in a hurry, and can't see enough truck markings or other identification to do much good. (Unless you have a dashcam)


I did take the pic in my mirror. It's hard to explain how that truck stop is set up, but he had to circle the parking lot to get to the row behind where i was parked, and two rows from the truck he hit. I didn't even notice him back there until he walked right by me to go back to his truck.

He hit hard enough to crush the edge of the rims on that side of the trailer. It's lucky he hit the trailer just right, kind of on the armored/reinforced framework. You can hear the bang when he hit, and my windows were rolled up.

 

[flank]

He could of had earplugs on and in a deep sleep. I wear ear plugs so nothing could wake me up, not even people pounding on the door. The extra loud alarm is the only thing that wakes me up.

 

[Gibson99]

He could of had earplugs on and in a deep sleep. I wear ear plugs so nothing could wake me up, not even people pounding on the door. The extra loud alarm is the only thing that wakes me up.

Yeah but what about when someone shakes the whole bed?

 

[Sunny]

Yeah but what about when someone shakes the whole bed?

If you are in a action movie dream scene, it becomes part of the dream.

 

[flank]

Yeah but what about when someone shakes the whole bed?

Don't really care whats going on, I'm getting my sleep time in.

 

[dashy]

I have ear plugs on when in my truck, sleeping and driving. The only thing that wakes me is the phone alarm, with time you become wired like that, many times there'll be strong winds that shake the truck, I sleep through all that.

 

[kamkar]

Back when i was a not so nice person we usioally pelted the parked truck with some klumps of dirt or somthing, if that dident wake anybody up we would raid the truck ( sleeping trucker or not ) and at times we could empty a whole trailer over night

Was pretty common back then so now parked trucks that are empty open ther doors over night, just to prevent the soft side of it dont get slashed by a peeping tom, hard trailers allso park open.
Dont know about full trucks/trailers today, but back then you could allso be lucky and find a parked trailer and "find" a lot of nice stuff in it.

Been out of that shamefull game for a lot of decades now

In this case i would jump in and take pics of the damage on the tanker and parked rig, and then leave my email for the damaged rig owner.

U wanna see who damaged your rig ? contact me at gearjammer @ aol.com, i got the pictures and video of the duchebag.

 

[dash riposki]

Some of the tankers 'surge' quite a bit. The ones that haul food grade stuff can't have baffles to keep the liquid from sloshing around as much. I pulled one of these years ago. Some of the products were very thick, or frozen, and would coat the inside top of the tank as you drove. When you parked, sometime big clumps or sheets would fall from the top, into the tank, starting the liquid moving, and rocking the truck, sometimes pretty seriously.
This usually happened right after you fell asleep.
So, you didn't know if somebody backed into you, or if it was the liquid cargo acting up.....you had to get out of bed and look.

Oh, while most tankers hauling chemicals or hazardous stuff are baffled, or many have multiple, individual compartments, they still surge to some extent. Even a van load of drums that aren't filled to capacity will surge. This means when you hit the brakes hard, the liquid sloshes, and can actually push the truck forward or feel like you have been rear ended by another truck. You have 45000 pounds or more of liquid moving.

I had a Maryland state trooper jump in front of me one time, turn her lights on and stand on the brakes at the same time, to stop me. I almost ran her over, and luckily the tanker was still rocking severely as the truck sat on the shoulder, stopped, with brakes set.
This is the only time I have yelled at a cop, but she was young, and it took all I could from running her dumb (but cute) butt over. I was furious. I pointed out how the tanker was still rocking, and she learned a lesson. 'You almost died'. Wish I had a dashcam back then.

 

[dash riposki]

Cargo theft is somewhat limited in the US, but increasing, and it is is mostly due to organised gangs going after specific stuff. (High value)
Often the theft is an inside job, with the driver or somebody at the shipper involved.

I bought a dozen cheap thumbdrives and carry some in the truck. I can burn a copy of the video and had it to the victim or cops, and I have.

With some of the stupid dangerous things I see company trucks doing, it's not productive to contact the safety department of the trucking company. I just post them on youtube.

Back when i was a not so nice person we usioally pelted the parked truck with some klumps of dirt or somthing, if that dident wake anybody up we would raid the truck ( sleeping trucker or not ) and at times we could empty a whole trailer over night

Was pretty common back then so now parked trucks that are empty open ther doors over night, just to prevent the soft side of it dont get slashed by a peeping tom, hard trailers allso park open.
Dont know about full trucks/trailers today, but back then you could allso be lucky and find a parked trailer and "find" a lot of nice stuff in it.

Been out of that shamefull game for a lot of decades now

In this case i would jump in and take pics of the damage on the tanker and parked rig, and then leave my email for the damaged rig owner.

U wanna see who damaged your rig ? contact me at gearjammer @ aol.com, i got the pictures and video of the duchebag.