Speed Blamed for Fatal S-Curve Big Rig Crash

The crumpled remains of a big rig lie beneath the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, in San Francisco, following an early morning crash. The truck’s driver died after losing control on the bridge's temporary S-curve and crashing to the ground several hundred feet below. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

High speed is being blamed for yesterday's Bay Bridge fatality, or so says Caltrans. The accident -- where a big rig truck toppled over the bridge at around 3:30 a.m. on Monday, killing the driving and reducing the truck to a pile of rubble -- occurred because the driver was going way traveling around 50 mph, or so said witnesses at the scene.

According to Appeal/BCN, "speed limit on most of the bridge is 50 mph, but the limit drops to 40 mph on the S-curve, with a maximum of 35 mph recommended on the sharpest curves."

"At this point it appears that this was a tragic accident that could have been prevented had that driver been following the law," CHP Assistant Chief Bridget Lott said at a news conference yesterday.

However, State Sen. Joe Simitian, who is on the state Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing disagrees. Appeal goes on to report that Simitian questioned Caltrans' "emphasis on speed," saying that bridges are supposed to accommodate drivers going well above posted speed limits. And seeing as how the big rig driver was only going 15 mph above the limit, the truck's driver should have been safe from careening over and falling to his death.

Anyway, with 42 crashes at the S-curve portion of the bridge in the past two months, Bay Bridge drama is far from over.