Porn-watching truck driver kills mother of two

It turns out the December 12 wrongful death truck accident which we blogged about a few weeks ago did involve a situation where the driver was distracted by an on-board lap top.  However, it was not quite what we suspected -- that the driver was getting re-routed, checking traffic, get load information, etc.  The driver was watching porn on his lap top while driving.  Yes, porn.

Topping it all off, he was driving over hours.  According to authorities, he had been driving for the last 27 hours with very little sleep.  Every truck driver knows that there are limits to the number of hours that he could be on the road.  They have to keep a log book which shows the number of hours on the road and the number of hours resting.

There are several studies that show that driving while fatigued drops the safety performance of drivers.  Similarly there are lots of studies which show that distracted driving also reduces the safety performance of truck drivers.  Having both at the same time makes safe driving nearly impossible, regardless of what he was watching.

The sad thing about this accident is the result of the truck driver making choices to do things that he knew were unsafe.  There is no real doubt that he knew that he shouldn't be watching porn (or anything else for that matter) on his lap top while he was driving.  He knew that he shouldn't be driving with no rest like he was doing. 

The choices he made certainly justify the second degree manslaughter charges the truck driver is facing.

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