Trucking Accident, August 22, 2004, by Jeff Bamberger

From MemoryArchive

Who: Jeff Bamberger
What: Trucking Accident
When: August 22, 2004
Where:Maspeth New York 

In 1991 I received a job working for an LTL freight company driving a tractor-trailer, (LTL meaning less than truckload). We ran mostly over the Northeast, and in particular New England. On August 22 of 2004 I was on my way to Providence from Boston, and subsequently went back to Boston to switch trailers enroute to Maspeth, New York (in Queens). On the way to Maspeth nearing New York Cityon 95, just north of the city, there was construction on the cross Bronx. The way the construction was set up, the far left lane exited to the Throgs Neck Bridge, the middle and the right lane went straight through for 95. I was traveling in the middle lane, and I came upon a Chinabusso I moved to the right to go by him because there was another tractor-trailer in the far left lane. I was thinking the truck in the far left lane was exiting the Throgs Neck Bridge, so I passed the Chinabus in the right lane just as we were getting into construction, where concrete barriers were set up. The truck in the far left lane did not exit for the bridge and proceeded to come over into the middle lane and into the right lane, where I was traveling. Now this was a full-size tractor-trailer and at first I thought that he just came a little too far and was going to go back in his lane, but when the middle of his trailer hit my mirror I knew I was in trouble. We were into the construction with the concrete barriers on my right, and the other truck playing squeeze on my left. I immediately stood on the brakes in attempt to avoid the truck, but I couldn’t slow down enough because the other truck just kept coming over on me. He hit me so hard that he shoved the steering axle of the tractor I was in up on the concrete barrier. When he finally came to his senses, he swerved back into his lane, but by this time the damage was done. The fuel tank is on the passenger side so when I hit the barriers the tank was ripped open and because of the sparks from sliding on concrete the truck was set ablaze. When I came to a stop, I realized, in shock, that I had to get out of the truck because I saw flames coming up on the passenger side. I immediately tried to get my seatbelt loose, which didn’t want unbuckle right away. I finally freed myself from the seatbelt the driver’s but the door was jammed. I kicked the door open, got out of the truck, and just kind of stood there in shock. I realized that I needed to call for help, but I had my cell phone on the dash and the truck was going up in flames. I thought about going to get it, but decided a cell phone, and the other things I had in the truck (wallet, suitcase, lunchbox) weren’t worth the risk. The Chinabus I had passed witnessed this whole accident but quickly exited so he wouldn’t have to sit in a traffic jam. I ran across the construction barriers and flagged down the Chinabus telling the driver I needed him as a witness. He said he would pullover up ahead, but of course he just kept going. Fortunately, one of New York City’s finest policemen, who was working a double shift on his way home, heard the crash and saw the flames. Because of this, he immediately came to my assistance. It seemed as if all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there was fire equipment, police, and even an ambulance. The ambulance attendant insisted they take me to the hospital but I refused. When everything settled down, the safetyman for my trucking company showed up on the scene. He asked me what happened, and asked for me to fill a report out, which I did. Luckily for me, he pointed out that he could see that someone had caught me on the side because the front bumper was pulled straight forward (in the trucking world, your guilty until proven innocent). The headlight, from the left corner of the tractor, was laying thirty feet behind the trailer. The whole truck caught fire; the fuel got under the trailer and caught it on fire, and in the end everything up pretty much burned to the ground. This was one of the most frightening times I’ve had in my life. When I sit back and look at how, if I couldn’t get the seatbelt off,or get the door opened, I would have been burned to a crisp, I realize how close to death I came. The safetyman, took me to Maspeth, and they had another driver waiting there to take me back to Reading, Pennsylvania, my home terminal. I realized I had lost a lot of important materials, drivers license, credit cards, cellphone, etc., so I spent quite a bit of the next week trying to get duplicates for the destroyed items, and ended up not being able to sleep that week because I kept waking up with nightmares. As far as I know, to this day the other truck driver that hit me was never found. My company lost a truck, trailer, and a load of freight, and I probably would have lost my job if there wouldn’t have been such distinctive markings to show how I was hit. The thing that struck me most though was that no one stopped to help. A truck on fire isn’t an easy site to miss, yet, besides the police officer, no one took the time to stop and see if I was okay.