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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP / BCN) ― An accident-plagued stretch of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge saw its first fatality Monday when the driver of a speeding big rig lost control and the truck plummeted 200 feet from the span, authorities said.

The truck hauling a full load of pears was traveling about 50 mph — 10 mph over the speed limit — when the driver lost control on the bridge's westbound S-curve, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Trent Cross said.

The rig hit a guardrail and went over the side, falling about 200 feet and landing on Yerba Buena Island below. The driver was killed and the truck was reduced to a pile of mangled debris.

"At this point it appears that this was a tragic accident that could have been prevented had that driver been following the law," CHP Assistant Chief Bridget Lott said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

"The driver was going way too fast," Cross added.

The name of the trucker killed in the crash was not released, but authorities identified him as a Hayward man and said he worked for a trucking company based in San Ramon.

Lott said the speed coupled with the shifting load propelled the truck over the side of the bridge.

The guardrail that the rig rolled over was 36 inches high, California Department of Transportation spokesman Bart Ney said. He said it was crash-tested for passenger vehicles but not for large commercial vehicles.

Lanes were closed following the pre-dawn crash about 3:30 a.m., backing up traffic during the morning commute.

The crash caused only superficial damage to the bridge. Caltrans planned to replace roadway markers Monday night that were damaged during the crash, Ney said.

The agency also planned to add reflective paint to the railing that motorists can see as they go through the curve, he said.

There have been 44 crashes on the S-curve since it opened Sept. 8. The speed limit drops from 50 mph to 40 mph along that stretch of the bridge, but drivers are advised to slow down even more to 35 mph through the curve.

The S-curve is a temporary detour until construction on a new, seismically safe eastern span of the bridge is completed.

The CHP's Cross said speed was responsible for most of the crashes that have taken place on the curve, including an overturned big-rig on Oct. 14 that tied up traffic for hours.

"We don't believe the roadway design is the issue," Cross said. "There's just a small percentage of people who choose to ignore the posted speed limit."

Caltrans also believes the problem is drivers' speed rather than the S-curve itself, agency spokesman Bob Haus said.

"Nothing is wrong with the design," he contended. "Drivers simply need to slow down. Every single accident has been the result of speed."

Transportation officials have improved traction on the new section and installed additional signage reminding drivers about the change in speeds, according to Caltrans' Ney.

Officials also planned to install signs showing drivers their speed and a large overhead sign with flashing lights indicating the 40 mph limit, Ney said.

"We're basically putting in everything that we can think of," he explained. 

However, two Bay Area lawmakers late Monday questioned the agency's emphasis on speed.

"California bridges and highways are designed to safely accommodate the fact that folks are going to exceed the speed limit on a fairly frequent basis," said state Sen. Joe Simitian, who sits on the state Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing.

He pointed out that the big-rig driver was only traveling only 10 mph over the speed limit at the time of the crash.

State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier of Concord, who also sits on the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing, agreed that something needs to be done about the crashes.

"These aren't isolated incidents when it comes to the S-curve," he said. "We have to do what we can do to find out what we can do to make sure they cease to happen."

Simitian said that while the S-curve was "obviously a source of continuing concern," he was also alarmed by other Bay Bridge problems including the recent unplanned closure caused by the failure of a repair to a cracked eyebar, which sent thousands of pounds of metal crashing onto the upper deck.

"Twenty years after the Loma Prieta earthquake, we still don't have a completed project, tolls are continuing to go up...we've got delays and cost overruns that are seemingly without end and now we've had closures that have had a multimillion-dollar impact on the Bay Area economy," Simitian said.

Those issues will be discussed at a legislative hearing in Sacramento on Jan. 12, the two lawmakers said.

"Question we're going to look in early January when we have a hearing or hearings and talk to folks at Caltrans is not only what's happened but what assurances can we be given that we're not going to be looking at these kinds of problems in the future," DeSaulnier said.

Simitian added, "I think the public is frustrated."

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