[Vision2020] megaloads results in injury accident

[Bill London]

The Daily News reports (page 3A in today’s issue, Thurs) the first automobile injury accident on Highway 95 resulting from the megaloads. (see the text below)
A flagger was stationed on Highway 95 near Viola.  One driver stopped to find out what to do, and a second driver struck the first.  Of course, it was an accident, but the Idaho State Police were quick to blame the drivers and hold the megaloads blameless.
“It had nothing to do with the loads,” the Idaho State Police representative said.
That’s ridiculous.  The flagger was there ONLY because of the megaloads moving on the highway that night.  The flagger’s position was the vital first step in a chain of causality resulting in the accident.
The Idaho State Police are being paid huge piles of overtime cash to guide the megaloads through Idaho.  That has certainly tainted their sense of responsibility, and shown Idaho residents that their own police can be bought.
BL
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Two injured in U.S. 95 collision 
Staff report | Posted: Thursday, November 10, 2011 12:00 am 

Two Idaho men were released from the hospital following a rear-end collision Tuesday night near Viola on U.S. Highway 95 that law enforcement claims occurred when one driver stopped to talk with a flagger awaiting Imperial Oil shipments bound for the Idaho/Montana border.

According to the Latah County Sheriff's Office, Shawn Dewitt, 36, of Princeton, stopped his vehicle on the highway to investigate flashing lights belonging to a flagger awaiting three shipments of refinery equipment and ask how he should proceed.

Idaho State Police Capt. Lonnie Richardson said Dewitt voluntarily stopped to talk to the flagger around 11 p.m., and had not been requested to do so. Dewitt's vehicle was then struck from behind by a vehicle driven by Frank Bybee, 33, of Desmet, Idaho, according to the sheriff's office.
"It had nothing to do with the loads or being confused by the lights," said Richardson. "It was just driver error."

Richardson said the collision closed part of the highway, which was cleared around 1 a.m. after an investigation of the crash scene was conducted. Bybee and Dewitt were both transported to Gritman Medical Center where they were treated and released, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Both of their vehicles were towed and no citations have been issued.

Richardson said ISP was first to arrive on the scene, but the sheriff's office is acting as the investigating agency as the state police had been assigned to covering the road Tuesday night as part of a contract with Mammoet, the shipping contractor for Imperial Oil. Those shipments were delayed by the accident for about an hour.
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