CORTEZ HIGHWAY COW FATALITY OR: JUST HOW CLOSE CAN ONE COME TO A MAJOR WRECK WITHOUT HAVING ONE?

KNOWN FACTS Speed limit on the road is 70 mph This highway is designated “OPEN RANGE” Cattle are seen frequently grazing next to the road It happened on a Friday Evening\Night Dark comes early this time of year The driver was leaving the mine site likely heading home I like to ask the class about what they think was on the driver’s mind as he drove home. Cold beer / Hot date waiting for him at his favorite bar……. Sure am glad its Friday, been a rough week….. Plans to go somewhere with the family / friends…… Talking on the cell phone…… Distracted with something in the cab

VIEW LOOKING NORTH NOTE THE OPEN RANGE SIGN BEYOND THE DEAD COW

POINT OF IMPACT

DUALLY TIRE TRACKS Driver swung back up on road after overcorrecting from the shoulder. Talk about how thin the margin was as he passed the danger:culvert sign

View from side of road where the driver almost drove into ditch & culvert Surely would have caused the rig to roll and flip if he had caught this ditch

ENTERED ROAD AGAIN WITH SKID MARKS

SKIDMARKS ACROSS ROAD Driver was on brakes with very marginal control of rig at this point

ENTERED SHOULDER ON OPPOSITE SIDE CROSSING TRAFFIC LANE Best guess is that this was a mine service truck of some sort. It just didn’t feel like a semi truck and trailer from the evidence. Whoever it was sustained some damage on both sides of the front although there was no debris that we could identify from the accident vehicle.

COMPLETELY OFF PAVEMENT You can see all four tires in the shoulder. Very fortunate that the barrow ditch was not deeper or steeper.

“OPEN RANGE” SIGN RUN OVER NOTE HOW DEEP THE RUT IS…….. The south bound mate to the sign still standing across the road. We thought that it was quite ironic that the accident happened right at a sign proclaiming that it is “Open Range”.

ENTERING BACK ONTO HIGHWAY What you can’t see in this picture is the torn up pavement that happened where he came back up onto the road. It must have been quite violent as he jumped back up onto the pavement.

Just think how many different little things could have gone wrong here and made it a Fatality rather than a Near Miss…………… Any accident is a series of unplanned events that all go wrong in just the right way. What if one more thing had gone wrong during this accident? Very likely we would have been doing a body recovery………. As it was we drug the cow off the side of the road into the desert and the crows had a feast. In any case it no longer posed a hazard laying next to the travel lane.