Dale Wilson, Bruce Lundt Injured in Truck Accident in Cherokee County, IA
Cherokee County, IA -- March 14, 2023, Dale Wilson and Bruce Lundt were injured following an accident where their trucks crashed.
Investigators said that the incident happened at around 2:10 p.m. at the intersection of County Highway L51/L Avenue and County Highway C66/650th Street.
According to officials, 62-year-old Dale Wilson was in a tanker truck that was going eastbound along 650th Street. At the intersection, it appears that a southbound semi-truck driven by 73-year-old Bruce Lundt crashed with Wilson.
Due to the collision, Lundt had to be flown from the scene. Wilson was taken to a local hospital. Injuries were not specified.
While the exact cause of the crash remains unclear at this time, details in the news suggest that the southbound truck had a stop sign. The most recent images of this crossing I can find online seem to confirm this. But I hope authorities will be prudent enough to avoid jumping to conclusions and to let the facts do the talking.
Put simply, professional truckers have a very challenging job, to say the least. They have to worry about factors the rest of us rarely encounter, if ever. That's why it's important investigators in these situations consider unusual circumstances like cargo shifts, mechanical defects, hours of service, medical conditions, demanding and negligent employers, training, the condition of the truck's tires, the design of the roadway, etc.
Obviously, they also need to consider more obvious possibilities, such as distracted driving, speeding, or other reckless actions. But if anyone can appreciate giving someone the benefit of the doubt until all the facts are clear, it would surely be other professional truckers that understand this sort of thing isn't always so black-and-white. Whether this was a dumb mistake or an unavoidable accident, it's important that the evidence speaks for itself.
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