KYRA DAVIS: Big Oops

So for those of you who haven’t heard, a big ol’ tanker truck filled with gasoline crashed and exploded on an overpass in Oakland. The overpass collapsed, effectively destroying the roadway that carried eastbound traffic off the Bay Bridge and onto 580 and 980 and Highway 24. It also ruined the connector from southbound I-80 to I-880.

In other words if you live or work in Oakland you’re pretty much screwed.

The good news is that nobody died. The crash happened at around 3:50 on a Sunday morning and it only involved the tanker truck, which was being driven by James Mosqueda. Let me say that again, the crash ONLY involved the tanker truck. No one cut Mosqueda off, no one rammed into him, he crashed that thing all by his lonesome. Miraculously he not only survived but walked away from the accident, although he did suffer from many third degree burns.

Mosqueda is 51 years old and he wasn’t drunk or doped up and as far as anyone can tell he wasn’t sleep deprived. They do think that he was speeding. In a Tanker. On an overpass. He was a fairly new driver in that he had only received a license that allowed him to drive big-rigs carrying hazardous materials less than a year ago. It’s safe to say that his new career isn’t off to a very good start.

Please forgive my flippancy because I honestly do feel for the guy. We ALL make mistakes, some of them while driving. It hasn’t happened for a while but there have been times in my life when I cut someone off accidentally and it wasn’t long ago at all when I gave into the temptation to speed. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never caused a major accident and let’s face it, if any person can honestly say that he/she has never caused an accident it probably is due, at least partially, to luck. Even the best drivers have their (m)bimbo-moments. We just hope that we don’t have those moments at the same time and place as another driver is having that same kind of moment. And here this guy had gone out and tried to better his life by starting a new career at the ripe ol’ age of 51 and now, because of a mimbo moment, he’s fucked the entire Bay Area.

And he really, really has. Approximately 35,000 cars travel the two-lane I-880 connector EACH. DAY. And 45,000 cars use the I-580 connector daily. Rebuilding that connector is literally going to cost tens of millions of dollars. And then there’s San Francisco, a city whose economy is completely dependant on its accessibility. As it’s predicted that commuters are going to become increasingly reliant on public transportation San Francisco will be adding station agents to help passengers transfer from the Bay Area Rapid Transit to SF’s Muni. There will also be extra Muni buses to deal with potential overcrowding at the Ferry Building by the Transbay Terminal. BART (a commuter train that runs throughout the Bay Area) will be adding extra trains during commute times and lengthen the trains they already have. The crash happened Sunday and it’s already cost SF $500,000.

So yeah, I feel bad for Mosqueda. But on the other hand there’s a part of me that can’t help but wonder if speeding in a tanker on an overpass goes beyond a forgivable mimbo moment. I mean you just don’t do that! Of course he’s already suffering the consequences. He’s burned for God’s sake and I think it’s safe to assume that he’s unemployed and that it’s going to be difficult to impossible for him to find more work.

I don’t know, I have very mixed feelings about this---mixed feelings about James Mosqueda that is. My feelings about the overpass and the commuter nightmare are pretty much in line with everyone else’s---it sucks, sucks, SUCKS.

Then again, I don’t really have to deal with it but for those of you who do you have my sympathy, big time.

Kyra Davis
Bestselling Author of:
SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE,
PASSION, BETRAYAL AND KILLER HIGHLIGHTS
and
SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING
Pre-order your copy of OBSESSION, DECEIT AND REALLY DARK CHOCOLATE (in stores 09/07)!

2 comments :

AnonymousWednesday, May 2, 2007 at 12:59:00 AM PDT
I'm not sure what you're saying here.

Each job bears different elements of risk. If you are a mail carrier, you might put an envelope in the wrong mailbox. Usually this is not a big deal - someone gets someone else's junk mail. But at some point, some unlucky mail carrier is going to misplace an important check for a person, and the late arrival of the check could force them into bankruptcy. It's all a big spin of the statistical wheel.

It looks like you are saying that once in your life you were guilty of speeding. Only once? That would be truly remarkable.

If the accident had happened 100 feet earlier or 100 feet later, he would not have been under the overpass and the damage would have been dramatically less. I can't think of any worse luck that could hit a person. I'm just thankful that nobody was killed, and that it wasn't me at the wheel when all the odds decided to come down on the driver for no good reason.
kyradavisWednesday, May 2, 2007 at 6:19:00 PM PDT
I’m sure I’ve gone over the speed limit as many times as I’ve gone under it but when the roads are slippery I NEVER drive over the speed limit because the risk is greater and you better believe that if I was driving a tanker filled with hazardous, EXPLOSIVE material I would stick to the speed limit. It was Mosqueda’s job to do whatever he could to lower his chances of being in a wreck and yet, when no one else was on the road, he managed to crash that truck simply because he chose to drive faster than he should. That was a very bad judgment call and people have the right to be unhappy with him because of it and he certainly doesn’t deserve to keep his job as a trucker but he shouldn’t be vilified for mistakes that have NOTHING to do with the crash and he shouldn’t be painted as the ultimate bad guy. He screwed up and there are consequences for that. On the other hand we all screw up sometimes so while people have the right to be upset we also need to remember the whole thing about glass houses and show some compassion.