On August 25, 2023 a semi-truck crashed into two other vehicles while traveling on I-35 in Rice County, Minnesota. Two people died, but even more shocking is the accusation that the truck driver was watching Netflix on his phone before the crash.
Paul McCartney drives a C5 Corvette.
We’ve all seen those videos posted to social media of people supposedly watching movies while their Tesla drives them through rush hour traffic. While that seems utterly dumb, trying to pilot a semi-truck while you’re binging Netflix seems even dumber.
How could anyone think not watching the road ahead, even on boring, straight stretches of an interstate, is even remotely a good idea?
A semi-truck driver with a commercial driver’s license should definitely know better. After all, when you’re controlling 60 tons of weight barreling down the road at 75 mph, you could easily kill someone if you zone out for even a second.
According to KSTP, 55-year-old Billie Joe Grimes has been charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation.
But Grimes contends he wasn’t actually watching anything on his phone but instead that the device was downloading something for him to watch later. He claims the cruise control was also set, which we’ve never heard as a defense for hitting another vehicle.
Because he was watching Netflix on his phone instead of the road ahead, authorities say Grimes didn’t see the lanes were merging for a construction zone. A Toyota Camry which was moving slower was rear-ended by Grimes’ Volvo semi pulling an enclosed van trailer, sending it careening into a ditch.
Then the semi-truck rear-ended a trailer being pulled by a Chevy truck, flipping it onto its side on some train tracks. Both of the people who were in the Camry died while the driver of the Chevy only sustained minor injuries.
Nobody should be watching Netflix or any videos while they’re behind the wheel of a vehicle, semi-truck or Geo Metro. That should be common sense and is the law everywhere, as far as we know.
Image via KSTP
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