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Damn lucky trucker.
- Thread starter Mudfoot
- Start date
I saw that Vid this morning on AOL, the driver said that the load shifted and that caused him to lose control.....after watching i can not even tell the brakes we used......you would think the trailer brakes would be locked at some point.
It is lucky he did not wipe a pump off at ground level, someone looking out for that guy.
73
Jeff
It is lucky he did not wipe a pump off at ground level, someone looking out for that guy.
73
Jeff
The loaded shifted when he tried to make the turn because he was going too damned fast. He must have burned up the brake linings or something for the brakes to have failed if in fact they did fail.Even if the tractor brakes failed he should have been able to blow the trailer brakes and lock them on.
O
oldslowchevy
Guest
some times thing happen to quick to react and it becomes easy for us in the comfort of our homes being completely relaxed to say this that or the other.
i am a driver with over 2 millon miles safe driving. i will say to me it appers that he was not in the right gear and should have been 1 to 2 gears lowwer. it did not seem that he had his engine brake on either if it was equiped with one. in general when air brakes fail the brakes tend to come on at full lock, this may not have been the case if the emergency line came loose from the trailer though.
air brake do have many fail safes built into them so the truck can stop. i am not saying this driver was hot dogging but it does seem to me that he could have done things differantly. but hey that is called hind sight and it is always 20/20. am just glad everyone is ok. cargo, trucks, gas pumps can be replaced.... lives can not.
I hear what you are saying but my comments came from the fact that he had considerable speed when we first saw him in the video. It didn't happen in a split second. I wonder if he was unaware or the cross street and though he was going to be going straight through.
RatsoW8
Supporting Member, W9WDX ARC Member - WD8T
I never knew you could so accurately diagnose the exact cause of a wreck just by watching a video.
The way this thread is going, give it a little more time and I am confident someone will ascertain her name just from watching the video. 
Oldslowchevy is right about air brakes having way to many safety backups for something like this to happen by random chance. If they loose air pressure they lock up. If the service line comes off the trailer, you still have tractor brakes. Not near as effective, but you still have brakes. If the emergency line comes off the trailer, the trailer brakes lock up.
What gets drivers in trouble, is using the brakes too much all at once, overheating them. Only two things could cause that truck to run away down that off ramp. Brake fade, the brakes get overheated and stop working, or the valve under the brake pedal failed. Most trucks have a separate valve that will run just the trailer brakes, a bar next to the steering wheel you pull down.
I have either wrenched on or driven trucks for 15 years and have never seen a brake pedal valve fail.
Am I saying I know what happened here by watching a video? No. But I can apply my experience to what I see. As will most other drivers who see this video. The guy deserves all the credit in the world for not slamming into those cars at the stop sign. It does say that he hit one in the report, but it looks like he whipped the trailer into it.
But from my perspective, the first thing I thought when I saw that video, is why is this guy going so fast down the ramp? He should have been using his engine brake to slow the truck before he exited the freeway.
Never trust that your brakes will always work. Never. They are the most important safety item on any vehicle. Air brakes need to be checked and adjusted DAILY. Failure to do this can kill someone. I pull doubles at 129,000 lbs. Brakes are my best friend and biggest pain in my ass. I have 20 of them on my rig and they require alot of my time. But ask any driver who has ever had a brake fade incident, you start kissing your ass goodbye till you get stopped. Then you call your wife and tell her how much you love her and the kids, because you just cheated death. That's how it feels.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
What gets drivers in trouble, is using the brakes too much all at once, overheating them. Only two things could cause that truck to run away down that off ramp. Brake fade, the brakes get overheated and stop working, or the valve under the brake pedal failed. Most trucks have a separate valve that will run just the trailer brakes, a bar next to the steering wheel you pull down.
I have either wrenched on or driven trucks for 15 years and have never seen a brake pedal valve fail.
Am I saying I know what happened here by watching a video? No. But I can apply my experience to what I see. As will most other drivers who see this video. The guy deserves all the credit in the world for not slamming into those cars at the stop sign. It does say that he hit one in the report, but it looks like he whipped the trailer into it.
But from my perspective, the first thing I thought when I saw that video, is why is this guy going so fast down the ramp? He should have been using his engine brake to slow the truck before he exited the freeway.
Never trust that your brakes will always work. Never. They are the most important safety item on any vehicle. Air brakes need to be checked and adjusted DAILY. Failure to do this can kill someone. I pull doubles at 129,000 lbs. Brakes are my best friend and biggest pain in my ass. I have 20 of them on my rig and they require alot of my time. But ask any driver who has ever had a brake fade incident, you start kissing your ass goodbye till you get stopped. Then you call your wife and tell her how much you love her and the kids, because you just cheated death. That's how it feels.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
Should've been down shifting anticipating. It wouldn't surprise me it was a last minute exit or they were talking and oh, I get off here, and oops, no brakes. Safety lockups only occur if air is lost, doesn't help if someone adjusted brakes wrong on the trailer and backed them out, I've had that happen. Fortunate that I noticed before I was at highway speed or that could easily happen.