Harvest Season Means More Cautious Drivers Needed

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The Minnesota State Patrol is investigating two beet truck accidents that happened within hours of each other.
 
First responders say one of the accidents was the worst they have ever seen.

Alison and TJ, 23- year old Ricardo Gutierrez of Borup has been identified as the passenger who died in a crash near Felton.

He was a passenger in a pickup that crossed the center line and hit a beet truck head on. The name of the driver has not yet been released.
 
“”I could agree with what the Sargent said that this was something was, you know I’ve never seen in my life or my law enforcement life,” said Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist.

The accident near Felton happened just after 11:15 last night.

The fatal crash was followed by another accident just after 4:30 this morning where a beet hauler was hurt in a rollover in Norman County.

Sheriff Bergquist says it’s a matter of drivers slowing down.
 
“There’s a beet truck there that I’m going to pull out in front of it, because I don’t want to be behind them,” said Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist.
 
You have to remember that a fully loaded truck it takes a long time to stop it they will not stop immediately or anything.
 
Truck driver Bill Murrie of Minot has more than 3 million driving miles under his belt.

He has spent a lot of time on the roads next to harvest trucks.
 
“long time truck drivers like bill say the urgency of harvest season, and the lack of experience of some of the drivers is what he has seen lead to accidents,” said Minot Truck Driver Bill Murrie.
 
“They’ve been running hard and you just can’t run hard at least not on over the road ones, because I’ve seen really bad accidents,”  said Minot Truck Driver Bill Murrie.
 
Both Sheriff Berquist and truck drivers like Murrie say it is a matter of farmer’s not overdoing harvest hauling, and to let drivers get the proper rest.

The beet truck driver involved in the Felton accident, 55 year old Patrick Moran of Waubun, was taken to Essentia for non-life threatening injuries.

Reporting Live Brittany Ford KVRR News