Published: November 10, 2009 11:40 pm      

Driver saved by escape ramp

BLOOMINGTON — A Virginia truck driver averted disaster Monday by entering a truck escape ramp off state Route 135 at Backbone Mountain after his rig’s brakes and transmission failed.

Thirty-two-year-old Bonzell Garland had just left Mountain Lake Park in his 1997 Kenworth tractor pulling a 2006 Cherokee trailer loaded with a conveyor belt. The rig is owned by Legacy Express Inc., in Richmond, Va., according to Maryland State Police Tfc. Blair Bittinger, who investigated the incident.

It was about 12:30 p.m. when Garland began the steep descent of Route 135 with his 78,000-pound rig to wind his way from Garrett County to Interstate 68 and eventually to his destination in Norfolk, Va.

Route 135 has a 9 percent grade as it stretches four miles from Swanton to Bloomington.

“The driver commented the lights were flashing on the advance sign and he immediately headed for the ramp,” said State Highway Administration spokesman Dave Buck.

Garland told police his transmission and brakes failed as he was traveling 45 to 50 mph when he ditched the rig into the escape ramp.

Bittinger estimated Garland was traveling “close to 65 miles per hour” when he hit the runaway ramp where a 3-foot deep mixture of sand and pea gravel finally brought the tractor-trailer to a halt — more than 550 feet into the 1,800-foot runaway ramp.

“That’s the farthest I’ve seen any vehicle go into the escape ramp,” said Bittinger, who has investigated several uses of the ramp by various vehicles in the last eight years.

Backbone Mountain has been the scene of numerous fatal accidents over the last three decades involving rigs that failed to stop before slamming into the rocky embankment at the base of the mountain. Twenty or more crosses commemorating drivers who have died there are painted on the rocky hillside where Route 135 flattens out and abruptly makes a 90-degree turn past the NewPage paper mill. Hence, the vital need for the truck escape ramp.

“Without the runaway ramp there, it’s very possible someone’s life could have been lost Monday,” said Bittinger, who has worked out of the Finzel weigh and inspection station for the past eight years in his duty with the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division.

Buck said the escape ramp was used in March 2008 by a 77,500-pound tractor-trailer. The driver said “his engine began to race and he knew his brakes would not stop the truck” before he detoured to the escape ramp. The rig dug deep into the sand-and-gravel bed a distance of more than 700 feet before it stopped.

The driver later told police he had never been west of Frederick and had no knowledge of the downgrade of Route 135. The driver in Monday’s incident also said it was his first time on Route 135, Bittinger said.

Three mandatory truck pull-off areas are located on Route 135 for drivers to stop and verify their brakes are working properly. In addition, more than 25 signs on Route 135 were upgraded with brighter colors with messages about the grade length and speed, pull-off areas and location of the escape ramp.

The flashing lights that Garland observed are an integral part of the runaway truck warning system installed by the SHA in November 2007.

“The warning system detects the length and speed of a truck as it passes underneath an overhead sensor. If the length and/or speed exceed a certain threshold, flashing lights will alert the driver to the runaway truck ramp,” said Buck.

Bittinger said Garland was cited for a brake line violation and a fuel tax violation. He was also issued numerous warnings for equipment violations, including defective brakes. The rig was ordered out of service until the necessary repairs are made.

The rig was pulled out of the escape ramp and towed by South Side Salvage and Towing in Grantsville.

Efforts to contact Garland on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Contact Jeffrey Alderton at jlalderton@times-news.com.