I had a close call the other week when a tractor-trailer passed me on the right and cut in front of me. The trailer knocked my mirror and jolted Adam out of his slumber. I tried to pull off to check for damage, but noticed the truck kept on going. We followed the truck to the next intersection and took down the plate and trailer number, as well as "ATS Inc, St. Cloud, Minn". (Since I couldn't stop without losing the truck that struck me, I checked my truck for damage when we got to our destination. Fortunately, all I have to show for the incident is some big scratches on the plastic of the passenger-side mirror. I'm not sure how, but the mirror did fold back upon impact, saving my truck from more serious damage. The mirror still operates, and no contact was made with any other part on the body of my truck or trailer - but that was only a matter of inches.)
A Google search for "ATS St Cloud Minn" brought up the website for Anderson Trucking Service.
I used the contact page on the ATS website to report the incident:
I was driving in Cambridge (Boston) Mass. yesterday morning (10/15/07 at approximately 6:45am) when one of your trucks accelerated past me on the right approaching a lane drop at the end of Route 2. I was driving a pickup with a fully loaded trailer, so I was not able to slow in time enough to let the truck in (and heavy traffic prevented me from shifting to the left lane). The ATS trailer clipped my passenger side mirror. I started to pull into the breakdown lane and was going to check for damages, but your driver was not going to stop. I caught up with the truck at the next intersection and recorded the plate number and trailer number, hoping that would be enough information to track down the driver. It was Minnesota trailer plate K2193, Trailer #93971. I was unable to get any information off of the tractor.
There was only minor damage to the truck (mirror only, fortunately no damage to the truck body or my trailer), but it could have been much worse. The fact that the driver seemed to be accelerating, and also that the driver did not intend to stop after the incident, was what concerned me most.
Thank you for any assistance you could offer on this matter.
Regards,
Matthew Richmond
A week went by with no response from ATS, so I decided to call the toll-free dispatch number. Robert, the night operator on duty, answered the phone and was very polite, professional and concerned. He took down all of the same information that I had included in the email, and composed an email of his own to send to Fred, the Safety Director. Robert also transferred me to Fred's voicemail (obviously not in the office after hours) so that I could leave a detailed voicemail message about the incident. No where in the email did I mention that I would like compensation, and when I spoke with Robert and left the voicemail for Fred, I made the point of saying that I was not seeking any damages, I just wanted to report the incident.
I received no further response from Fred or ATS, and was content that I had just done the "right" thing by reporting the incident, trusting them to look into the safety aspects of the whole encounter.
Last Thursday, I received an email titled "REPORTED TRL. #93971/ OCT. 15TH APPROX. 6:45 A.M.". The general impression I got was that something I had said put them on the defense. In addition to being annoying to read because it was typed entirely in CAPS (maybe Beverly was yelling at me), the email pretty much called me a liar.
WE ARE IN RECEIPT OF YOUR E-MAIL REGARDING AN INCIDENT THAT OCCURRED ON OCT. 15, AT APPROX. 6:45 A.M. IN CAMBRIDGE, MA. WE HAVE CHECKED THIS TRAILERS LOAD AND IT LOCATION ON OCT. 15TH AT THE TIME YOU INDICATED. OUR BILLS OF LADING INDICATED THAT TRAILER WAS AT OUR SHIPPER IN POTTSTOWN, PA BEING LOADED AT 7:35 A.M. THAT TRAILER IS APPROXIMATELY 6 HOURS AWAY FROM CAMBRIDGE, MA AT THE TIME YOU INDICATED, BASED UPON THE PLATE NUMBER YOU PROVIDED. YOUR DESCRIPTION OF THE INCIDENT, WOULD BE WORD V.S. WORD ACCIDENT AND I WOULD SUGGEST YOU CONTACT YOUR AUTO INSURANCE CARRIER & PURSUE YOUR DAMAGES THRU YOUR COLLISION COVERAGE.
WHEN SHARING THE ROAD WITH LARGE TRUCKS YOU MUST REMEMBER THERE ARE LARGE BLIND SPOTS ON THE SIDES, FRONT AND BACK OF THE TRACTORS AND TRAILERS. A MINOR IMPACT TO YOUR MIRROR WOULD NOT BE FELT BY ANY DRIVER OF A TRACTOR/TRAILER. BASED UPON WHAT YOU HAVE PROVIDED WE MUST RESPECTFULLY DECLINE TO MANY ANY PAYMENT FOR YOUR DAMAGES. YOU HAVE NOT PROVIDED ANY TANGIBLE EVIDENCE OUR DRIVER WAS INVOLVED. IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER EVIDENCE AS TO WHY ATS WOULD BE LIABLE FOR YOUR DAMAGES PLEASE FORWARD YOUR DOCUMENTS TO US FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION. OUR MAILING ADDRESS IS 725, OPPORTUNITY DRIVE, ST. CLOUD, MN. 56302. THE FILE NUMBER IN OUR OFFICE IS 2007-10-000204. SINCERELY, BEVERLY CALLAHAN, ATS CLAIMS DEPT.
So, I felt that I had to clarify further:
Beverly,
I want to clarify that I was not seeking any damages from ATS; I simply wanted to report the incident.
I'm not sure what to say, because I don't know how your system works. I do know that those were definitely the numbers that were printed on the trailer that clipped my mirror.
In regard to your comments about sharing the road with trucks, I must say that I was also driving a heavily loaded truck and trailer (and am keenly aware of the blind spots), and I was unable to get out of your truck's way as it accelerated to pass me on the right at a lane drop. (I would not have been in a blind spot in front of your truck as it approached me to pass, unless the driver was not paying attention as they came up to me from behind. If I wasn't more concerned with trying to avoid the collision, I could have looked into the driver's window as the tractor accelerated past me on the right - they had to know I was there). I realize that the driver may have made a rash decision when they realized the lane dropped and they needed to get over, and I realize that the driver may not have even known that he hit my truck.
I believe that the manner in which the ATS truck was being driven was wreckless, especially as the morning rush hour traffic was beginning to build in Boston. Only my mirror was damaged, but a matter of inches could have made the situation much worse that it was.
Thank you for your time,
- Matthew Richmond
So, we'll see if the drama unfolds any further. I suppose in a lawsuit-happy society, the big corporation is going to immediately be on the defensive and look for any way to deny their involvement in such an incident. It would be nice to think that they could take my reporting of the incident as an honest show of concern, and at the least let me know that they will look into the situation to see why the truck's operator was driving in such an endagering manner.
I'm used to sharing the road with the big rigs, and 99.9% of the time I prefer driving with them to driving with automobile traffic - they tend not to make eratic lane changes or cut in front of me when there is only a few car lengths of space. This particular ATS driver is one of those that I generally give a wide berth when I come across them on the open road. In this situation, I did not realize that should have been the case for this truck until too late. I could always give the benefit of doubt to this driver: he could have been tired as he approached the end of his shift, he could have been in a hurry to get to his destination before 7:00, he could have got caught in a lane that he didn't know was going to end.
Two things that concern me: first of all, the wreckless manner in which the driver handled the situation (regardless of WHY he was driving like that); and secondly, why the ATS tracking system was putting that trailer 6 hours away at the time that it struck my mirror.
