[ShepherdsDog]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatche ... -1.4279091

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A professional truck driver who says he zoned out driving on Saskatchewan's flat highways before crashing into and killing three high school football players in May 2015 will hear his prison sentence Monday.

The Winnipeg trucker, Normand Lavoie, 41, told police that he didn't fall asleep at the wheel, but that he was in "la la land, basically — I'm there behind the wheel but I'm not."

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On May 3, 2015, the Winnipeg semi-trailer driver was hauling foam insulation panels on a highway south of Spalding, Sask., when he entered a construction zone driving about 100 km/h.

Lavoie later told police that he didn't recall entering the construction zone or seeing six construction zone signs, including an electronic billboard, advising him that workers were present and to slow down.
He was travelling 84 km/h when he crashed into and crushed a small white car that had been stopped by a flagperson. The three teenage boys inside the car travelling home from a football camp were killed on impact.

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Justin Gaja's mother, Crystal, also shared a statement. She told the court that the only thing she looks forward to now is her dying breath.

[DrCaleb]

Put me down for two years minus a day, plus parole.

$1:

Justin Gaja's mother, Crystal, also shared a statement. She told the court that the only thing she looks forward to now is her dying breath.

That's just sad.

[BartSimpson]

They used to call this "white line fever" where a truck driver would mentally check out.

Helps make the case for autonomous trucks.

[DrCaleb]

3 Years, concurrent.

[Freakinoldguy]

If he'd been suffering from White Line Fever he'd have stopped since it's a condition that allows a person to operate a motor vehicle safely while following all the rules and regulations with no knowledge of doing so.

What happened here is something different and sounds more like he was functioning while asleep which would explain why he didn't stop. I've experienced this same phenomenon while patrolling a fence line. I was asleep but walking and when I woke up I'd done one entire section of the fence with zero knowledge of having done it but, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to follow direction or defend myself in that condition which is why I say it's a bit different than white line fever.

My guess is that he zoned out but did it just before he hit the car because if he'd been functionally asleep he would have gone off one of the myriad of curves on the "supposedly" straight highway and if he had white line fever he would have stopped.

But either way he killed 3 people and while the reasons he gave are somewhat dubious at best at least he had the courage to admit he was at fault and plead guilty which I give him credit for.

[Freakinoldguy]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

3 Years, concurrent.

I wonder if there are factors we didn't read about that made the sentence longer than people expected?

[martin14]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

3 Years, concurrent.

I wonder if there are factors we didn't read about that made the sentence longer than people expected?

What, being white and French ?

He'll be out in a year anyway.
Permanent driving ban would have been better.

[DrCaleb]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

3 Years, concurrent.

I wonder if there are factors we didn't read about that made the sentence longer than people expected?

I think that he pled guilty was the reason he got less than I'd hoped, but more than my lack of faith in the justice system expected.

[herbie]

It happens. Drove from Vanderhoof to Prince George so damn often I know it like the back of my own hand, there's a couple really long straight stretches.
Once one minute I was concentrating on the curves hills and passing lanes fifteen minuters later the gravel noise on the tires snapped me into the fact - on the wrong side of the road! I was wide awake but it was like I'd been hypnotized. Scared the shit out of me.
The 20 years since I blast the radio or keep telling myself there's a moose crouched and ready to leap out every time I go past that spot.
BTW - it's a lonely road compared to what you guys see, I keep snapping pics of one car coming 15 miles off to send my sister and tell her how the traffic is hell....

[Robair]

herbie herbie:

I keep snapping pics of one car coming 15 miles off to send my sister and tell her how the traffic is hell....

Don't mean to make light of a shitty topic, the thread is about a tragedy...

but there's a song "Wacking off on the 332."

I don't know who sings it, but it details a... method... for staying awake on a boring ass SK highway.

If you want to test your mental endurance, there's plenty of roads on the prairies that'll do just that.

[DrCaleb]

Robair Robair:

If you want to test your mental endurance, there's plenty of roads on the prairies that'll do just that.

I used to do the audit for the trucking rules that Alberta has, for a company I used to work for.

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Limitation on being on duty
6
(1)
Except as permitted by this Regulation, a carrier shall not
permit a driver during the driver’s work shift
(a) to exceed 13 hours of driving time, or
(b) to drive at any time after the driver has been on duty for
15 or more consecutive hours.
(2)
Except as permitted by this Regulation, a driver shall not
during the driver’s work shift
(a) exceed 13 hours of driving time, or
(b) drive at any time after the driver has been on duty for 15
or more consecutive hours.

http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/Regs/2002_317.pdf


I know there are specific limits to how long and how far a truck can be driven per day - and they are there to prevent such tragedies as this. No amount of caffeine or any other stimulant will change the fatigue that comes from operating a vehicle for that long.

I've experience it myself - straight shot from Edmonton to Toronto. Very little sleep and a whole lot of pop for 43 hours. 3 speeding tickets in 3 provinces in 1 day. But that's why I think 3 lives are not worth 3 years in prison. I'm all about breaking bad laws, but this isn't one of them. It's there to save lives, and we see what breaking them costs. And several of us here have broken them and luckily lived to tell others!