![]() There was conflicting testimony by the trucking defendants about what weight documents were received. The owner of the shipment of pears, the customs broker, the owner of the customs examining site and the trucking company responsible for delivering the pears all should have been given information about the weight. Each defendant had the duty to forward to the next defendant the weight of the container. There were four “trucking” defendants who knew or should have known the container was overweight. After the fatal accident, overhead signs, flashing signs, speed zone signs, rumble strips and other warnings were added which dramatically reduced accidents. Fakhar’s fatal accident, a total of 48 accidents occurred at the curve in 7 weeks including a Safeway truck that tipped over but stayed on the bridge only 26 days before the fatal accident. As soon as the “S” curve was constructed, accidents began to happen at an alarming rate. The State failed to follow accepted traffic engineering procedures and standards for setting a safe speed limit. The design of the curves failed to comply with CalTrans’ own standards. The degree of sharpness of the curve was completely unexpected. The few speed advisory signs in place were insufficient both in location and effectiveness. The lanes were narrow, there was no superelevation in the curve and the warnings of the dangerous curve were ineffective. We contended that the State was liable because the curve for westbound drivers constituted a dangerous condition and created a dangerous and hidden trap for westbound motorists because of a sudden and unexpectedly sharp left turn. The conclusion of MAIT was the accident was caused by a combination of speed of the vehicle, its weight and the sharpness of the curve. He was traveling the normal Bay Bridge speed limit of 50 mph when he unexpectedly and suddenly encountered the first very sharp curve causing his trailer to fall to the right over the temporary K rail pulling the tractor over with it. This was his first trip over the Bay Bridge since the change had been made. He also did not know that the temporary “S’ curve consisting of two sharp curves had recently been constructed while the new bridge was under construction. What he did not know was that the container was substantially overloaded. He was assigned to take a container of imported Chinese pears from Oakland to San Francisco. when his tractor-trailer rig went off the “S” curve on the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge and plunged 200 feet to Yerba Buena Island below. ![]() Tahir Fakhar died on November 9, 2009, at 3:30 a.m. $1,650,000 Settlement – Truck Plunges Off Bay Bridge At ‘S’ Curve
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