We've been watching this on NJ12 this weekend - I had no idea it was a Wal-Mart truck.

That was really stellar pr there.

24 hours. No wonder his reaction time was slowed.

I realize that truck drivers are under pressure to deliver. But there are also regulations governing how long they can drive. I wonder where WalMart was in all of this.

I will let you know. They aren't.

But a supervisor or manager might have said something stupid to push him into going further.

But the driver has been charged with a felony. So it will come out if that is the case. Also I believe the trucker's logs are electronic so they can't be changed and those will show what they show.

Or work off the clock through breaks and lunches...

That place only cares about major corporate shareholder profits and NOTHING else.

They don't get large and stay large by doing stupid things.

and they largely covered 'public' motor carriers, those who worked for all shippers who wanted to hire them, like for example Roadway Express.

But there are many, most of which we recognize, who are employed by and for one company, like WalMart, FedEx, etc, and they are essentially unregulated.

To suggest that Wal-Marts transportation division is "essentially unregulated" is a gross inaccuracy.

They are subject to the exact same regulations as any other motor carrier. The Federal Motor Carrier safety regulations do not differentiate between carriers who carry and deliver their own goods from so called "Common Carriers". Also, Wal-Mart uses contractors in many cases but they are still subject to the same regs.

since I've been out of the business, but this WAS the case, AND most of the 'private' carriers were non-union, so not subject to related constraints.

9 deaths in 2 years at 667MM miles/year comes to be a death every 148MM miles

The FARS data below shows 1.1 deaths per 100MM miles, or a death every 91MM miles on average.

Thus making Walmart trucks 63% safer than the general populace, even driving vehicles of far greater weight than the average and not having the luxury to decide to sit out bad weather.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

What an incredibly pointless article. Of course a company that drives 667 million miles a year is going to have accidents. That is not news. At least make a comparison to give a purpose to the article.