Scott Stone
New member
Last night, I worked until 2:00 am. This morning I got a call at 6 am waking me up, "Scott, this is Frank, I am not coming in because my son is in the hospital in intensive care."
Crap, I send a text to one of my supervisors to let them know what is going on, and roll over and go back to sleep.
At 7, I get a call about a problem with a machine. I give some quick verbal instructions, to do a basic repair, and roll over and go back to sleep.
At 7:20 I get a call from one of the supervisors, "Scott, sorry to wake you, but Rob was in an accident. It doesn't look good for the guy that hit him."
Suddenly, indigestion settles in. I am thinking to myself, this is the call I have been dreading for years. In my suddenly wide awake state, I ask how the driver is, and I give some quick instructions to the supervisor, and tell him to go there, make sure our driver is okay, and take lots and lots of pictures from every angle imaginable.
I jump in my car, affectionately called "the hearse" and head to the accident. Mind you, this is full morning rush hour, and I have to drive clear across town. If you know Phoenix, across town is more then a five mile little jaunt. It was a total of 30 miles. As I listened to the morning radio, I am hearing the traffic reports. I am hearing how they are extricating the guy at the location of the accident, and how it is a possible fatality. My heart is sinking.
I get about a mile away, and I get a frantic call from Beth B. saying Jim sent her a text that one of my trucks was in an accident. I am thinking, How in the world did Beth, who lives in Maryland, get the information about an accident that one of my trucks was in so quickly. Turns out it was Jim Cooney, and he was trying to get a hold of me, just in case I had not heard. Score one for Jim for making an effort.
I get there, and I see a little S-10 with the roof peeled back. Three lanes of the street were totally blocked, and I see my supervisor talking to the cop, and a driver sitting on a property wall not far away. I don't see an ambulance, because it was long gone. It had taken me an hour to get there. There was not fire truck either.
I go up, and introduce myself to the cop, he gives me a quick rundown of his assessment. (Sorry Tony, no guns were drawn, and he was actually a very nice guy) He thought that the guy had fallen asleep as he approached my truck, that was stopped on the side of the road, so he did not notice the arrow stick, the cones, or all the flashing lights. He clipped the left rear of my truck, with the right front of his truck. It tore out the A-Pillar and made the cab of his truck so that the drivers door could not be opened.
Turns out, the Phoenix Fire Department had to cut the left A-Pillar so that the roof could be bent back, and the driver extricated. The other driver was sent to the hospital. He had a cut on his forehead, and bumps and bruise. Not nearly as bad as it could have been.
Our truck was hit hard enough that it broke the rear spring pack, and leaves were laying on the ground. Interestingly, the cop, and my supervisor, did not notice it. He also bent the left corner of the flat bed, and broke off the mud flap and mount.
My driver waited around, and went right back to work, running tandem with a guy, as soon as he was able to. He had calmed down sufficiently by then, and wanted to get back to work.
It is 3, and I still have not gone back to bed. I probably won't until about 2:30 or 3:00 am.
For what it is worth, a consistent method of performing work, and a training system thoroughly paid off in this case. The cop said my guy had done everything perfectly. We had witnesses stating that our guy had done everything perfectly, and everyone knew exactly what to do.
Now, if the guys insurance is any good, we should be golden.
I will attach pictures later.
Crap, I send a text to one of my supervisors to let them know what is going on, and roll over and go back to sleep.
At 7, I get a call about a problem with a machine. I give some quick verbal instructions, to do a basic repair, and roll over and go back to sleep.
At 7:20 I get a call from one of the supervisors, "Scott, sorry to wake you, but Rob was in an accident. It doesn't look good for the guy that hit him."
Suddenly, indigestion settles in. I am thinking to myself, this is the call I have been dreading for years. In my suddenly wide awake state, I ask how the driver is, and I give some quick instructions to the supervisor, and tell him to go there, make sure our driver is okay, and take lots and lots of pictures from every angle imaginable.
I jump in my car, affectionately called "the hearse" and head to the accident. Mind you, this is full morning rush hour, and I have to drive clear across town. If you know Phoenix, across town is more then a five mile little jaunt. It was a total of 30 miles. As I listened to the morning radio, I am hearing the traffic reports. I am hearing how they are extricating the guy at the location of the accident, and how it is a possible fatality. My heart is sinking.
I get about a mile away, and I get a frantic call from Beth B. saying Jim sent her a text that one of my trucks was in an accident. I am thinking, How in the world did Beth, who lives in Maryland, get the information about an accident that one of my trucks was in so quickly. Turns out it was Jim Cooney, and he was trying to get a hold of me, just in case I had not heard. Score one for Jim for making an effort.
I get there, and I see a little S-10 with the roof peeled back. Three lanes of the street were totally blocked, and I see my supervisor talking to the cop, and a driver sitting on a property wall not far away. I don't see an ambulance, because it was long gone. It had taken me an hour to get there. There was not fire truck either.
I go up, and introduce myself to the cop, he gives me a quick rundown of his assessment. (Sorry Tony, no guns were drawn, and he was actually a very nice guy) He thought that the guy had fallen asleep as he approached my truck, that was stopped on the side of the road, so he did not notice the arrow stick, the cones, or all the flashing lights. He clipped the left rear of my truck, with the right front of his truck. It tore out the A-Pillar and made the cab of his truck so that the drivers door could not be opened.
Turns out, the Phoenix Fire Department had to cut the left A-Pillar so that the roof could be bent back, and the driver extricated. The other driver was sent to the hospital. He had a cut on his forehead, and bumps and bruise. Not nearly as bad as it could have been.
Our truck was hit hard enough that it broke the rear spring pack, and leaves were laying on the ground. Interestingly, the cop, and my supervisor, did not notice it. He also bent the left corner of the flat bed, and broke off the mud flap and mount.
My driver waited around, and went right back to work, running tandem with a guy, as soon as he was able to. He had calmed down sufficiently by then, and wanted to get back to work.
It is 3, and I still have not gone back to bed. I probably won't until about 2:30 or 3:00 am.
For what it is worth, a consistent method of performing work, and a training system thoroughly paid off in this case. The cop said my guy had done everything perfectly. We had witnesses stating that our guy had done everything perfectly, and everyone knew exactly what to do.
Now, if the guys insurance is any good, we should be golden.
I will attach pictures later.
