What Others are Saying About CAST

CARLSBAD
CURRENT-ARGUS
LOCAL NEWS
WlPP driver avoids collision
By Victoria Parker-Stevens/Current-Argus Staff Writer Aug 24, 2004, 02: 14 am

Four die, nearly 40 injured in Wyo. accident

Several tractor-trailers bum on Interstate 80 between Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyo., on Thursday. Four people were killed and nearly 40 hospitalized in a fiery chain reaction of crashes involving 35 vehicles on the wet and foggy interstate. Tim Chesnut/ Laramie Daily Boomerang

CARLSBAD -It was something they had heard about in training, but didn't want to see firsthand - taillights at the end of a 12-vehicle pile-up, and they were hauling a load of nuclear waste. For two CAST Transportation drivers, it started out as just another trip east along Interstate 80 through Wyoming, heading from Washington state to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Mark Beene was behind the wheel around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, between Cheyenne and Laramie, and Claude Beebe was in the sleeper compartment. Fog rolled in, and visibility was reduced to around a quarter of a mile. A semi-truck passed by going at least 60 mph, Beene said, noting WlPP truck drivers are instructed to not exceed 40 mph in foggy conditions. "His taillights are what I saw first," Beene said. "Then, the rest of that pile of mess came into view."
Beene said the driver of the semi apparently hadn't had time to brake before running into the back of the last truck in a pile-up. "I went to shutting it down and looking for a clear area to turn and not run into that mess," he said. "I drove off the highway into the ditch and kept going until I was way ahead of the accident".
It took some pretty aggressive driving, Beene admitted.
"It was all I could do to keep it on its wheels, and there were people running out of the way (of the pile-up)," he said.
Beene quickly discovered the value of scenarios he'd reviewed in a required defensive-driving course.
"Everything I learned that day kicked in in two seconds," he said, adding he wasn't immediately affected by the enormity of the situation. "It happened so fast it didn't really have time to sink in."
Beene, of Carlsbad, has been driving trucks for at least 12 years.
After coming to a stop about 20 yards from the highway, he began contacting authorities and checking to make sure there was no damage to the truck or waste containers.
Beene stayed with the truck to keep it secured, he said.
(Continued)

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