On Colorado's uniquely dangerous highways, troopers says truckers aren't using state's runaway ramps enough
A crash at the Morrison off-ramp along Interstate 70 this week is a reminder of what can happen if truck drivers lose control of their vehicles while descending the steep slopes of the highway. The Colorado State Patrol says a truck hauling baking soda lost its brakes heading eastbound, passing a runaway truck ramp and exiting at Morrison, crossing Highway 93, ending up in a Colorado Department of Transportation lot on the east side of the highway. Fortunately, no cross traffic was on Highway 93 as the truck crossed the road.
"An off-ramp simply has no mechanism to slow down a truck. The potential for injury and death at the bottom of that intersection is extremely high," said Colorado State Patrol Major JP Burt. Burt is the operational services branch commander with the responsibility of overseeing motor carrier safety.
"Using an exit ramp for an out-of-control truck is a really dangerous endeavor," said Burt.
The Colorado State Patrol cited 63-year-old James Owens, who was driving for Marquez Truckline of Texas, for reckless driving.
Heading downhill, the truck passed the newly improved runaway truck ramp between Lookout Mountain and Morrison. The ramp was the subject of $15 million in improvements to enlarge it and improve signage. It involved enlarging the area and adding significant signage. Improvements followed the 2019 crash of a truck that was out of control coming down the same easterly route as the truck that crashed Tuesday, but it continued on into the Denver West area, where it crashed into vehicles in a traffic backup, killing four people.
Burt noted that, in many ways, trucking has the ability to get safer.
"There's a continuing evolution of new technology, warning devices, signage, and advertising that lets commercial motor vehicle drivers know exactly what to expect and where. And it really is their job to pay attention to it."
The most frequently used runaway truck ramp of the 13 in Colorado is one of the two along I-70, west of the Eisenhower and Johnson Memorial Tunnels in Summit County. The lower ramp has had dozens of trucks use it in a year.
One of the towing companies that is often called upon to extract trucks is Mountain Recovery.
Founder and partner Charlie Stubblefield points out that Colorado has some of the nation's most challenging driving miles on I-70.
"From Golden to Vail, basically. It's 80 miles. It doesn't exist anywhere else with extreme grades and extreme elevations that burn up brakes and challenge semis' mechanical capabilities to the level that they are," said Stubblefield. Many have never experienced the challenges of mountain driving. Stubblefield does not think the truckers they see have arrogantly ignored ramps.
"I don't think anybody's callous in any way, to be perfectly honest with you. When we arrive on scene, and oftentimes we're some of the first responders that get there and come to these truck drivers' rescue, they are scared beyond belief, right? They just saw life flash before their eyes, and they had to make a split-second decision. Well, use a runaway truck ramp or put it into the shoulder, or the median, or take an exit, and see what happens after that."
Truckers often don't have the knowledge of how to handle difficulties.
"They have devices that slow these trucks down with engine brakes, jake brakes, and different transmission settings. Those all exist on all of these trucks," he explained. "What it comes down to is the drivers just don't know how to utilize these different safety and mechanical control devices in this area."