XENIA, Ohio — Each year hundreds of cars and semis collide across the country, often with deadly results. A local trucking company showed News Center 7′s Gabrielle Enright how the crashes are happening.
Cameras mounted inside the car of a semi from Home Run Trucking, Inc. in Xenia captured video of a driver getting too close to their semi and then cutting it off trying to get to the exit.
Tom Milby, Vice President of Safety with Home Run Trucking, said, “They shoot in front of the truck, slam on the brakes. 80,000-pound truck can’t stop on a dime and truck hit the car.”
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Fortunately, no one was hurt, but Milby said this happens all the time and one of the reasons all his semis have cameras in them.
“We put cameras in our trucks to monitor driver behavior. Also, in case of an accident, the video tells the whole story,” Milby said.
Milby said in another dash cam video, the driver of the car clipped the semi, but blamed the driver of the semi for the accident, but the driver’s claim was unfounded.
“We turned this over to our insurance and they contacted the other insurance and determined the other party was at fault,” Milby said.
A News Center 7 investigation found that when it comes to crashes, semi drivers and other drivers share equal responsibility when it comes to crashes.
In 2016, 11,152 semi drivers caused 19,949 crashes in Ohio. The 2018 and 2019 averages show that 11, 312 drivers caused 19,783 crashes.
The numbers also showed during the last four years, the biggest violations were improper lane changes and both semis and cars following each other too closely.
Milby said he is proud of his crew’s safety record, saying in 2020 his 249 drivers traveled 20 million miles and reported only five accidents.
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