Opinion ID: 1894414
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: younglove's semi

Text: Younglove's semi, loaded with construction equipment and steel, was driven by Decker and was traveling east on I-80. Approximately 5 miles west of the eventual collision site, Decker passed a truck driven by Dale Clausen, who unsuccessfully attempted to contact Decker by radio. However, Decker's CB was not in operation, because Decker was listening to a Freddie Fender tape on Decker's stereo. According to Decker, weather conditions consisted of intermittent snow, and visibility on I-80 was 1,000 feet to a quarter of a mile. As Decker passed by Kearney, the weather changed, with increased snow, although such change in weather never resulted in a blizzard. On account of the change in weather, Decker reduced the speed of his semi to 35 miles per hour as he approached the prospective collision site. Under the prevailing conditions, Decker asserted, he could stop his semi, traveling at a speed of 35 miles per hour, within a distance of 100 feet. When Decker observed a condition which he described as the wind swirling... a lot of snow off the ground ... it was just all white ahead, at an unknown distance from the point of such observation, Decker let up on the tractor's accelerator but did not gear down or apply brakes on his unit, because cars were closely following him and likely would have run into the rear of his rig if it suddenly decelerated. Decker was unable to state the height reached by the swirling snow or the distance his semi traveled in that snowy condition, but, while the rig was engulfed in the swirling snow, the speed of Decker's semi decreased to 25 miles per hour. When his semi came out on the east side of the swirling snow, Decker saw Prime's unpainted aluminum trailer, this big silver thing blocking both lanes, 125 feet ahead of Decker. Because he believed there was insufficient room to pass Prime's semi on its right side, Decker cut to the left on the packed snow covering the Interstate, causing his semi to jackknife and collide with the rear of the patrol cruiser, and then strike the right rear of Prime's trailer. Decker's semi came to rest at the guardrail on the south edge of the median. Before entering the swirling snow, Decker never saw Prime's semi or the patrol cruiser. On leaving the swirling snow, Decker did not see the parked cruiser, with its flashing and rotating lights. At the scene shortly after the collision, Decker encountered Wallace, whom he asked what in the hell he'd [Decker] hit. Clausen, the trucker who had attempted to contact Decker by CB, arrived at the scene and observed the damaged cruiser, with its rotating lights still in operation. Clausen described road conditions from Kearney east to the collision as slick, with snow and ice on the road's surface. According to Clausen, when Decker passed him approximately 5 miles west of the collision scene, visibility was 100 feet or less, a condition which persisted during Clausen's approach to the collision site. Trooper Nesbitt was injured in the collision, and later settled his personal injury claim against Younglove and Decker for $25,000.