Even though you might work as part of a team, people still have their own individual needs to handle. Communication is paramount in being a partner with another driver.
In Kenedy County, Texas, near the U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoint, 59-year-old New Jersey native Tina Berki was run over by her co-driver as she was “using the bathroom” underneath the cargo trailer they were pulling.
According to the article on kristv.com, the Texas Department of Public Safety says that her co-driver never realized she had left the truck. Berki was pulled while under the trailer an unknown distance before she was discovered deceased.
A lesson to always check for your students and co-drivers before you leave
Lessons can always be learned from tragedies. As we would all want to believe, incidents like this happen more often than not. Trainees get left at truck stops and rest areas by trainers in too much of a hurry to haul freight.
Take a moment to check the truck and trailer before departing. It should be part of the brief mid-trip inspection you perform anytime you stop.
And finally, not to be too suspicious, there’s a rest area right where the incident happened. Why was she not using it and going underneath the trailer?
The Texas DPS is investigating the circumstances of the incident.
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