Authorities have identified the driver of a dairy truck who was killed in Wednesday’s collision on Interstate 10 in Chandler after he crashed into the back of a fuel tanker.
Rodney Payne, 55, of Mesa, was driving a milk truck for Missouri-based Western Dairy Transportation on Interstate 10 westbound near Chandler Boulevard. Shortly after 8 a.m. the truck he was driving crashed into the back of a tanker truck carrying thousands of gallons of fuel byproduct, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The incident caused an explosion and stalled traffic for hours and businesses were evacuated within 1 mile of the crash scene.
Payne was returning to Phoenix from Casa Grande at the time of the crash, according to DPS.
Payne was an independent trucker with whom Western Dairy contracted to transport loads of milk. His truck was empty when the crash happened, according to a woman in Western Dairy’s Safety Department. Payne was an owner-operator of the truck, according to the Western Dairy worker.
The driver of the tanker for Bulk Transportation of Gallup, N.M., was Valentino Haley, 29, of New Mexico. He was not injured in the crash, according to DPS.
DPS officers are continuing to investigate the crash to determine why Payne crashed into the back of the tanker.
Dale Whiting posted at 4:47 pm on Fri, Nov 11, 2011.
Ordinarily when one vehicle runs into another vehicle, the rear vehicle is at fault. Knowing our free way stop and go traffic, chances are Payne failed to slow down and stop, not realizing that Haley was slowing to a stop for traffic in front of him. At best, Haley's stop lights were not functioning. But impatience rules our highways. "Slow down and live" just is not a motto of Arizona drivers!
Carolyn posted at 5:41 pm on Fri, Nov 11, 2011.
Dale Whiting, you are correct in everything you have said - barring unforeseen circumstances, such as lights not working, the rear driver in a collision is generally the one at fault. . My husband has driven a truck for many years - both as an independent, an owner-operator, and as a company driver. It's tough out there, especially with all the traffic these days. Drivers of cars are far more likely to cause accidents than are commercial truck drivers. I have seen cars speed up to get around trucks traveling in the right lane, and then, pass the trucks and get back into the right lane - and then slow down instead of getting the **** down the road so they don't cause problems. In this case, it is very sad that a man has lost his life. May he rest in peace.
Suziehaystack819 posted at 6:38 pm on Fri, Nov 11, 2011.
Don't know if this is the case here but cell phones are causing a lot of rear end collisions some gal rear ended me at a red light while on the cell phone never slowed down what so ever.