When Trucks Tip Over....is there a reward...?

[AJMD429]

If so, then there must be a bunch of happy truckers in Indianapolis.

It is an UNUSUAL morning if there isn't a truck overturned on the interstate in Indianapolis. Every day.

I never remember that kind of thing 30 years ago. If a truck overturned back then, it was a big deal, not just 'normal morning traffic'.

What's the deal - more untrained drivers from Mexico, or is there some kind of reward for tipping over...???

[TWHBC]

Not a truck driver, but a thought is small vehicles cutting in front of trucks causing the truck driver to slam on the brakes.
Years ago both truck drivers and car drivers were more courteous, and fewer..
Now days everybody is in a hurry, and 'more for me' than watching out for the other guy.
Both trucks and cars have a lot of distractions, screens on the dash, messing with radio and other device controls, cell phones, putting on makeup (truckers, don't know?), etc. Inexperience adds to the trouble. Failure to adjust for prevailing weather conditions, wait till the frost, then snow shows up for the first time of the season!
Of course failing to adjust for wet roads, reduced visibility, adds to the issue.
Failing road surfaces adds to the issues.
But distracted driving (for multiple reasons beyond previous) has to be the major reason for many accidents !

[Griff]

...more untrained drivers?

Let's just leave it at that.

But, if you want my person theorum? Since you asked and are still reading, the answer must be 'yes'. In a nutshell, the "new" hours of service regulations" combined with the "electronic" logging are what's to blame. While it may seem grand to have a regulation that requires 10 hours of rest before a driver can begin driving again, it's the 11-hour period of work within a 14-hour "window" that's the problem. Next, add in the legal requirement to take a 30 minute rest before the 8th hour of driving. The LTL (less-than-truckload), portion of the industry has their folks gathering freight all afternoon, taking it back to their distribution/gathering facility, speed the evening sorting it, and loading it on the long-haul trucks, which then depart between 2100-0000 hours and begin their trip to the next hub or relay point. These relay points are usually an 10-½ or 11 drive away. The dispatchers for these drivers are driven by corporate policy... and if you think for a second these corporate type bean-counters haven't figured out exactly the most profitable way for them to maximize the most profit from every dollar they spend on a driver, go ahead, replace your belly button with a window. That profit motive means they want the most distance for their buck.

I've never worked directly for an LTL company, but have subcontracted to them. When the national speed limit was 55mph, we were routinely given 10 hours of drive time to complete a 470 mile run... PLUS an hour break period. But, the non-union companies don't have to do that now... the speed limits in all but CA, OR & WA, (& maybe those places north & east of no-man's land, (NYS)), have speed limits @ 65MPH and MORE. I don't do those runs anymore, (pay ain't good enough), but a few friends still do. And they tell me that they're dispatched at over 55mph, rather routinely. And just like the LTL haulers, the TL (truckload) industry puts these same dispatch speeds on their speed governed trucks. Most are governed @ between 60 & 65mph... Have you tried to drive anywhere at a maximum of 65mph and tried to average 55mph? You're pretty much sunk on your way to the interstate, if not just getting out the gate!

Take Chicago to Nashville, a heavily used truck route. Using the practical route, you pass thru Indianapolis and Louisville... both notoriously bad traffic towns, not to mention Chicago & Nashville. It's 472 miles on that practical route, including the loop around Indianapolis. But, it's only 433 miles via the shortest route, avoiding both Indy & Louisville. Guess which mileage a driver will get dispatched via? My dispatch program, sez it's 6 hours & 55 minutes driving time from Chicago to Nashville using the practical route, essentially I65. I don't have it set to account for traffic, either normal or abnormal... and the "shortest" route it sez can be done in 6 hours & 33 minutes. It LIES! It doesn't account for the 100 plus stop lights along US 41, nor the miles long backup along any route you can take into Nashville at morning rush hour...

So, you take the combination of over-regulation, most likely sleep-deprived individuals, a need for SPEED, the sometimes VERY tight off-camber curves that make up much of Indy interstate routes thru the city, and definitely the interchanges all the way around I465, and you'll get trucks overturning on your roads.

Ipso facto.

[Leverluver]

There is no doubt that truckers have a much harder time, with all the regs, than in the past. Still, you can tell a pro from one just out of the Acme truck driver school from a mile back. 40 tons weaving in and out of their lane or over the brapp strips scares the heck out of me. Throw in the spaced out idiots in the SUVs not paying attention to anything other than their own little world and running in cruise control right in a trucks blind spot, it's a wonder there aren't more accidents.

IN the past year I have put on 20k just running between WY and OH to help care for our ailing (now deceased) mother, so had to run 80 a lot. When you see how rude some civilian drivers treat truckers, you want to pull them out of their car and smack them. After all the truckers put up with they can be some real nice folks when treated with respect. I often see a faster truck want to pass a slower (always the same logo so probably governed) truck but no one in the fast lane will allow them to do so. When I get up there, I slow down and keep the BMWs and Escalades at bay, flash the lights and let the trucker pass. Amazing how much they appreciate that.

As for Indy, that 465 is a piece of junk (even with and maybe because of the continuous construction); always has been and always will be but it isn't all the road. I always thought there were sure some screwy drivers on that road even in off hours; God help you during rush hour. The speed limit is 55 but if you aren't going 65, YOU will be cause of the next accident. I always try to time to get through on other than rush hours. As it turned out, I passed through right at INDY 500 time. Funny all the knuckle head race types were either at the 500 or home watching it. The only folks left on the road were of the sane type and 465 was a pleasure to drive, so some of the trouble with 465 is the locals that drive it. Now that mom has passed, I hope I never see that place again.

[jeepnik]

I doubt you can find a busier freeway than the one that runs from L A Harbor to the rail yards closer to downtown L A. Solo truck, truck vs truck, truck vs auto and heaven forbid, truck vs motorcycle happen more than twenty times a day.

Here are the causes from what I've seen, not in any order.

Erratic actions by trucks, cars and motor cycles causing other vehicles to take evasive actions often resulting in hitting yet another vehicle.

Excessive speed on the part of all vehicles when traffic volume is low. A good portion of the freeway is rated at 55 for all vehicles, and when it widens and 65 is the max for passenger vehicles no one obeys. Sorry to offend any truckers, but if volume is light they never even come close to obeying the law (I know time is money but...)

Poorly maintained equipment. The port does do some cursory inspections of the tractors and things are getting better. But the trailers for containers aren't maintained well, and things are constantly falling off. This causes swerving and rapid breaking on the part of passenger vehicles to avoid the debris. The trucks just ignore it and it's not uncommon for the big rigs to kick debris up into other vehicles. Lost three windshields this way, including one to a crank handle for the landing gear of a trailer.

And, probably one of the biggest causes is the poor condition of the roadway. Cracks, potholes and wash boarding abound. I have witnessed an empty container literally hoping down the road and finally bouncing sideways into a pickup. The truck driver claimed he had no idea this was happening or that he hit anyone.

Not take all of those conditions, add to that the relatively ease with which you can get a commercial license in this state, and you have a recipe for disaster played out a score or more times a day.

One attempt to improve this was done some years ago when the rail line out of the port to the rail yard was semi undergrounded to allow faster transit. But, it will never be able to handle even a small fraction of what comes out of the L A / Long Beach harbor complex. That, and it costs more to ship by rail directly from the port than to truck the containers to the rail yard.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

There is no doubt that truckers have a much harder time, with all the regs, than in the past. Still, you can tell a pro from one just out of the Acme truck driver school from a mile back. .............................................................

I kinda like the JB Hunt training program.They give the new driver a truck for 72 hours. If he doesn't jacknife it they give him a trailer.

[piller]

There is no doubt that truckers have a much harder time, with all the regs, than in the past. Still, you can tell a pro from one just out of the Acme truck driver school from a mile back. .............................................................

I kinda like the JB Hunt training program.They give the new driver a truck for 72 hours. If he doesn't jacknife it they give him a trailer.

I thought JBH stood for Just Been Hired.