A viral Facebook post about the death of a 26 year old truck driver earlier this year is serving as a sad reminder about the price that truckers often pay for other people’s bad driving.
The post focuses on the March 2 death of truck driver Nelson Masse, who lost his life in Oakdale, Minnesota, when the load of steel beams that he was hauling shifted after he braked suddenly, reportedly to avoid another vehicle. The steel beams crashed through the cab of his truck. Masse died at the scene.
Months after Masse’s tragic death, a Facebook post shared by user Gary Vinson began going viral. In the post, Vinson points out that truckers like Masse often pay with their lives for the thoughtlessness and mistakes of other drivers.
The post reads:
For those of U unaware, yesterday morning at approx 10:00, a truck driver. Nelson Masse age 26. was killed on 694 Southbound, near the 10th St interchange in Oakdale. He was killed when he had to suddenly slam on the brakes to avoid piling into a car that cut him off, and the steel beam he was carrying, slid forward and pierced the cab.
People for your own lives, AND theirs, STOP cutting in front of semis. That BIG open space they leave, is NOT for your convenience. They weigh in excess of 15 TONS empty, and 40 TONS loaded. You do not stand a ghost’s chance in hell, if you choose to tangle with them.
THIS is the young man, who lost his life at work.
THINK before you put yourself in their “safe zone”.
The Facebook post has been shared more than 280,000 times.