Mother, son killed in pileup on highway near Montreal: truck driver was playing cellphone game

He fled Canada to India and later somehow entered the US and then extradited straight back to Canada.

Honestly, this comment shud be at the top

Thank you for the clarification. That’s important.

What was his country of origin?

Watch him try to plead and stay in the country now.

Drinking and driving Texting and driving F*** all on their cellphone and driving

Driving down i75 two days ago. I watched a truck pulling a large camper (probably 30ft), and while we rode along side him he was looking down at his phone more than he was looking at the road. I would say he was probably looking down for 15 seconds and up for 2. In those 13 seconds, that full size truck and 30 foot camper could absolutely be devastating to someone’s life, all because the dude couldn’t be bothered to do talk to text or wait until he’s parked to play Angry Birds. I think if you’re caught texting and driving, the first offense is $300 fine. Second is $1000 fine and you lose your license for 1 month. 3rd offense is $2000 file, lose license for 6 months, mandatory driver’s ed, and retesting for license. It’s THAT bad out there; I can’t be a passenger because it allows me to look around, witness other drivers and become disgusted with the people I share the road.

I worry that this will happen a lot more in the coming years. Once the iPad kids start driving, its going to be a lot more scary to drive.

100%. Distracted driving is the next generations drunk driving. The views on it are exactly the same. Tons of millennials use their phones while driving with the justification that they always used their phones while driving and they're good at it. It wasn't illegal then so we're not going to change now.

The addiction is insane. It's crazy we're not being more proactive about it as a society. It's not good.

We need more f****** enforcement on this. I love my privacy more than most but if I would be all for automated cameras on highways catching people on their phones.

[removed]

You may as well be drunk if you’re on your phone driving.

drinking is still a ton of deaths, in the usa 13,000 people die per year drom drunk drivers

And a big part of the issue is that there are no real penalties for doing this. Start suspending people’s licenses for a year at a time, fining them heavily, *and* making them pay to take safe driving courses/classes. No mercy, no second chances. Follow through with every person and no exceptions. Guarantee more people will start putting their phones down when they drive.

My grandfather used to sleep and drive on the highway. It was nuts.

My buddy sold his old Mercedes and bought a Tesla. He said it’s a nice car overall but he is annoyed because the Tesla tells him to look at the street whilst he is watching videos on his iPhone. I guess the Tesla “thinks” he is looking at the big screen too long.

[ Removed by Listnook ]

Right? I saw a "no texting while driving" sign and thought that's a bit outdated. They've graduated to tik tok.

I have gotten in the habit of checking out where drivers passing the opposite direction are looking because so many have their f****** heads down, and it's probably close to 30% of people I pass on my 15 minute, mostly sidestreet commute. All ages except over 65. Drives me insane.

The number of times I see someone at the stop light and not move when it turns green, due to them being on their cellphone these past few years has been astronomically high.

I live in Nevada. It's illegal here to use your phone while driving, but a bunch of politicians got tickets for it so now it's no longer enforced unless there's a resulting accident.

He did flee successfully the first time around. For whatever reason he was dumb enough to go to the US then got arrested and extradited to Canada.

Something similar happened in Oregon a decade ago. TL;DR distracted driver killed a teen. Saudi government helped him flee. https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/12/9b5b1eff724150/he-was-accused-of-killing-a-po.html

Do you not use fleeing to India as a sign of your regret? I thought that was a common practice!!!

In a world with CarPlay/android auto, Bluetooth (either integrated or a standalone device), and ai voice assistants, there’s absolutely no reason to be fidgeting with a phone while driving unless you’re a f*** face idiot. And as someone who has to work in the insurance industry, it’s these same people who 1) raise premiums for *everybody* and 2) complain the most about insurance prices. Like, my bad bro; I know you want to pay $40 a month, but you have 3 at fault wrecks, 4 tickets, and need an SR-22. F*** off my phone

Same, I don’t have a death wish and care about the safety of others

I get the urge at long red lights, but I never give in to it! It's so dangerous.

I have a high screentime. That said, when I’m driving, the phone’s hidden in the center armrest cubby. When anyone messages, either I’m hearing through the voice assistant, or it is waiting until I’m parked somewhere safe. The only time my phone is being used the same time as I’m driving is when my wife is using it for something.

I mean, long-haul trucking sounds like one of the most boring jobs imaginable. Self-driving vehicles can't come soon enough.

Damn well at least my auntie didn't die because of merge dragons

It's treated nearly as bad or worse than a DUI in much of Canada. In my province for example, first offense is an instant roadside 3 day license suspension on top of fines and demerits on your license. Unfortunately it's very hard to get caught as a commercial truck driver - cops can't really see what you're doing up high.

Tell me you absolutely LEANED on the horn

They can't even last the 20 seconds at the red light without scrolling. It's pathetic. Not only dangerous, but making traffic worse.

They need to start monitoring truck drivers and permanently revoking CDL’s for shit like this. Absolutely unacceptable. I don’t care how much time you spend on the road, I don’t get to f*** off on my phone while I’m working, do your job and pay attention. We had a local family absolutely destroyed by a dump truck driver who was f****** off on his phone and rear ended them at 55mph while they were stopped at a f****** light. Smashed all the children in the back of the mini van and the mother driving lived but was trapped and all she could do was scream for her children who were crushed in the back. Lock that driver away for life.

I’m no expert, but I believe this would lean towards manslaughter rather than murder

Murder requires intent to kill.

Well, it’s one of the reasons more and more Canadians are calling for mass remigration.

Disagree, imagine how careful everyone would be driving if instead of an airbag, there was a metal spike protruding from the steering wheel... /s

Girl today was merging on the freeway with cellphone in one hand and Dunkin’ Donuts big ass iced coffee in the other. I’ve seen people on FaceTime while sitting on the damn freeway. When the phone integrates with the car via Bluetooth, the car should disable all games, all FaceTime, all social media. You get to make calls and use the map, that’s it.

“Hours later that evening, he flew to India after buying his ticket at 3:37 p.m.” Mmmhmm

In the US trucking used to be a good paying union job with benefits. Then the unions got destroyed and trucking became a gig job. Then it got outsourced to Indians. Never seemed to me there was a shortage of truckers - the companies just didn’t want to hire enough truckers. Then the companies fired truckers for not making impossible deadlines, then told the US govt they needed H2B visa holders to come here and do the job - so they could blackmail immigrants into overworking for little pay. My husband takes Ubers and was telling me about his last driver from Pakistan and how nice he was. I said, “Why Pakistan? They’re are a bazillion locals who want to drive people around for money in the summer when the 1% come here, get drunk and need a designated driver.” Our son even wanted to do it on summer weekends. My husband told me the guy drives here in summer and in Boston (hundreds of miles away)during the rest of the year. Like, what? Now they’re importing Uber drivers to hop around the country when locals are readily available? How does that even happen? Who sponsors migrating uber drivers for H2B visas?Uber considers drivers to be ”contractors.” They’re spinsoring H2B “contractors“ who move city to city?

How right you were.

[removed]

Anyone with a functional brain understands this