HUNTSVILLE, Utah — Investigators continue to look into last week's crash that killed a dump truck driver after his vehicle went into Pineview Reservoir.
The police tape remains from Friday's crash, which was similar to an incident last year in which another dump truck also ended up in a heavily-wooded, deep ravine near SR-39 after they say it lost it's brakes coming down Trapper's Loop.
"you come down that long of a decline down that hill, brakes are gonna heat up and by the time you hit the bottom, they'll either fail or, you look at a couple of different things; driver experience in coming down hills like that, [or] equipment. There could be a number of factors that play into it," said Lt. Justin Cheney with the Utah Highway Patrol.
According to the Utah Department of Public Safety, the driver of the dump truck on Friday appeared to have lost his brakes coming down Trapper's Loop before going off the road and into the reservoir.
"We'll get our commercial vehicle department involved to go through, do a full inspection on the truck, find out if the brakes were all calibrated, right set, right," said Cheney.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance says there are 4 million commercial motor vehicle inspections conducted every year around the country to ensure large trucks and buses are operating safely out on the road. That includes eight levels of inspections that are done for commercial vehicles.
"A Level 3 [inspection] is we check driver log books, we try to get into the truck and talk to the drivers," said Lt. Harley Watkins with the UHP Commercial Motor Vehicle Enforcement Section. "We check brakes, we check lights, we check all the safety features that the federal government regulates under the Federal Motor Vehicle Carrier Safety Regulations, title 43 of the federal code."
When it comes to commercial vehicles in Utah, Watkins says there have been double the rate of incidents this year over last. Something he adds isn't always the fault of the commercial vehicle driver.
"Last year, 11% of our crashes in the state of Utah involved the commercial motor vehicle," he said. "this year, we're at 24, one out of every four crashes in the state right now."
Which is why the UHP is urging drivers to be careful out on the roadways.
"We need to look at our own personal driving behavior and maybe give them a little more room," said Watkins. "We need our drivers to look at what they're doing to be aware of, what they're loaded with and hauling and to not haul a load if it's not safe."
Utah Highway Patrol says Friday's incident is still under investigation at this time.
