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Driver says she fell asleep at the wheel

Aug 13, 2008 | SCOTT DAUGHERTY | HomeTownAnnapolis News

A 19-year-old woman reportedly said she fell asleep at the wheel of her sports car Sunday morning and veered into the path of a tractor-trailer moments before it careened off the Bay Bridge, killing the truck driver.

State transportation officials said the truck driver unsuccessfully tried to avoid hitting the Chevrolet Camaro on the narrow two-lane bridge - bumping the right Jersey wall of the eastbound span at about 4 a.m., swerving into the left concrete barrier and ultimately plunging into the bay 30 to 40 feet below.

"I don't remember it happening because I fell asleep at the wheel, but when I woke up we were in an accident," Candy Lynn Baldwin, 19, of Millington on the Eastern Shore, told The Washington Post from her bed at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Ms. Baldwin, who broke her kneecaps and injured her spleen and liver in the wreck, said she was returning home from her mother's wedding in Baltimore.

"It was 4 a.m., and I had been up late preparing for the wedding and picking up people from the airport the night before," she said.

Ms. Baldwin declined comment when contacted by The Capital this morning.

Police are still investigating the fatal wreck, including what role two-way traffic might have played. No charges have been filed in connection with the wreck.

But Geoffrey Kolberg, chief engineer for the Maryland Transportation Authority, declared yesterday the 56-year-old span of the bridge was safe.

The Jersey walls are not designed to handle "an 80,000-pound truck going 55 mph," said Mr. Kolberg, calling the wreck an "anomaly."

Police opened the final lane on the eastbound span at about 4 p.m. yesterday - 36 hours after the wreck.

"There is no doubt in my mind - 100 percent certain - that this bridge is safe," he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board, AAA, a former Maryland Transportation Authority Police Chief

The National Transportation Safety Board, AAA, a former Maryland Transportation Authority Police Chief and a woman who lost her husband and son 15 months ago in the last fatal wreck on the bridge are not so sure though. They still have questions about the integrity of the bridge's concrete barriers and the authority's continued reliance on two-way traffic.

"We are going to look at the accident as a whole and how it happened," said Keith Holloway, spokesman for NTSB. He said federal investigators are still examining the bridge and are trying to determine if its design played a role in the wreck.

And while this appears to be the first time a vehicle has driven off the Bay Bridge, Lon Anderson, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, noted how a gasoline tanker truck crashed through an overpass barrier in January 2004 on Interstate 895 near Baltimore and killed five motorists on Interstate 95. He also noted how a similar wreck occurred in March 2006 where Interstate 495 intersects with Interstate 270 - killing one person.

"I continue to be unimpressed," Mr. Anderson said. "I think you need a barrier that will hold the trucks on the Bay Bridge."

Two-way traffic

Mr. Anderson, former authority Police Chief Gary McLhinney, and Missy Orff, who lost her husband and son May 10, 2007 on the Bay Bridge, yesterday warned about the dangers of two-way traffic and called for the state to investigate and implement alternatives as soon as possible.

"It is something that really needs to be looked at," said Mr. Anderson, noting that about 70 percent of all fatal wrecks on the Bay Bridge have occurred when two-way traffic was in effect. "The statistic speaks for itself."

"How many more people need to be killed on these bridges?" Mrs. Orff added.

It is unclear what the authority's official stance is on two-way traffic on the spans. Calls to the authority were not returned.

Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Orff specifically want the authority to install barriers between lanes to prevent head-on collisions.

"I don't know what is feasible, but I'd like to hear from an engineer," said Mr. Anderson.

Mr. McLhinney, who served as chief of the authority police from 2003 until last year, said he spoke to several state officials over the years about the dangers of two-way traffic only to be told it was necessary.

Traffic was running in both directions of the two-lane eastbound span at the time of the wreck because the three-lane westbound span was closed for the ongoing redecking project. Mr. McLhinney said he didn't understand that.

"I would think you could keep at least one ... lane going," Mr. McLhinney said. "Two-way traffic should only be used in emergency situations."

Sen. E.J. Pipkin, a frequent sponsor of bills dealing with the Bay Bridge and a critic of the authority, said yesterday it was too soon to call for changes.

"We need to wait and see and take a look at the accident report," he said. "There have been tragedies, but there also have been improvements in traffic flow."

Mr. Pipkin proposed a "Bay Bridge User's Bill of Rights" in 2005, only to see financial considerations kill it in committee. The bill of rights would have forced the Maryland Transportation Authority to waive the $2.50 toll when traffic jams last longer than 30 minutes and also banned tractor-trailers from using the bridge during construction projects.

At the time, Mr. Pipkin said commercial trucks accounted for about 27 percent of bridge accidents.

Recovery

A private salvage team used a crane and a barge about 4 p.m. yesterday to pull the tractor-trailer from the water. The tractor-trailer, which is owned by Mountaire Farms in Delaware and was full of frozen chicken, landed upright in about 10 feet of water.

John R. Short, 57, a veteran truck driver with more than 30 years experience on the road, died in Sunday's wreck. John Wise, president of Mountaire, said Mr. Short, of Willards, Md., worked for his company for about a year and a half.

Ms. Baldwin, the driver of the Camaro, and her passenger, Trisha Ann Michele Carrigan, 21, of Quincy, Calif., were flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Ms. Baldwin was still at the hospital this morning.

The driver of a Prius also involved in the accident, Seung Won Hong, 41, of Springfield, Va., and his passenger, Ho Yoo, 42, of Alexandria, Va., were not injured.

Past problems

The last fatal accident on the Bay Bridge left three people dead - James H. Ingle, 44, of Preston, and Randall R. Orff, 47, and Jonathan R. Orff, 19, both of Millington - and five others injured.

According to police, a homemade trailer came loose from a Lincoln Navigator May 10, 2007, causing a seven-vehicle pileup on the westbound span. Two way traffic was in effect at the time of the wreck, but police said that was not a factor in the crash.

No charges were filed against the driver of the Lincoln Navigator because no state laws existed at the time requiring citizens to properly secure a trailer to their private vehicles. State legislators have since passed new legislature to close that loophole.