Involved in, or caused by?

[CharlesD]

The thread about van line haul distances got me to thinking about the whole safety thing and the regulations that go along with our line of work and one question kept nagging my mind. I remember reading an article a while back and now I can't remember where I read it, possibly in Land Line or something like that. Anyway, it was about the dishonest way in which crash statistics are skewed when reporting crashes involving trucks. The media reports every crash involving a truck as a crash caused by a truck and that mind set is what leads to a cry for even more regulations, or regulations that don't make sense.

What I'd like to see is some hard data on the number of serious crashes or highway fatalities that are actually caused by the truck compared to the number that are involving the truck but are the fault of the car driver. I believe that article mentioned a figure over 70% being the fault of the car. What I saw just in the last week would bear that out. While not witnessing any accidents, I saw numerous cars weaving all around trucks, cutting them off and hitting the brakes, hanging out in that blind spot on the right side of the trailer, etc. I even almost hit someone who came from two lanes over, cut straight in front of me, and then hit his brakes to try to make an exit ramp. If I hadn't seen him coming and acted accordingly, it might have been ugly.

I guess my point is that for the most part, the best drivers on the road are generally the professional ones. I saw so many trucks do flat out amazing maneuvers to avoid accidents that would have been caused by an overly aggressive car in the past few days and it did nothing but reinforce my opinion that the trucks aren't really the problem. Sure, there might be the occasional accident from some guy nodding off when he's been pushing it too hard, but I'd venture that in the vast majority of crashes, the car is the one that caused it and the alertness and professional conduct of many truck drivers probably prevents even more crashes that could occur.

So maybe the solution isn't more regulations on truckers, but more difficult requirements for being allowed to operate any motor vehicle. It is a joke how easy it is to get a license and it's patently obvious to most of us who spend a good amount of time on the roads how many people there are out there who really have no business operating anything even as big as a lawn tractor. It's time to go after the four wheelers, not the trucks.

 

[FIS53]

Hey you have those guys as well! I had two this week who raced up the left lanes and made a right in front of the truck to drive across the painted island to exit the highway. There are a lot who race up the on ramps to get ahead of the trucks and of course they run out of ramp and then just turn into the lane with literally no room to spare.

Years ago I was travelling along the 401 coming west in the Newcastle area passing the service centre. The TT in front of me was doing nothing wrong and the road was icy. A car came out of the service centre and just cut right in front of the tt forcing him to make a move to avoid an accident. Unfortunately the ice played a part and after some fancy handling the tt went off the road into the centre median. Myself and another trucker stopped and talked to the cops who came but initially the cops were all for charging the trucker for careless. Took us a few to convince the cops about the car being at fault but of course none of us got the license plate of the car. So this idea that truckers are automatically at fault has been around for a long time.
Rob

 

[guido4475]

Yes, you're correct, it is time to go after the four -wheelers while enforcing trucks also.But Law Enforcement knows that trucks are an easy target for revenue because most truck drivers are from out of state and don't want to be bothered with showing up in court to fight the ticket.They'd rather just pay it and be done with it,for the most part.

Alot of states including Kentucky are teaming up with certain trucking co's to put troopers in semi's while going down the road to catch traffic violators.It has a huge success rate, and I hope it catches on.

 

[layoutshooter]

They would be welcome to use our truck!! I wonder if they would EVER go after equipment on 4 wheelers like they do trucks. FAR more revenue to be made there, there are more cars by a long shot. I bet you could write a TON of tickets for bad tires just by walking around the lot of a Wally World on any given Sat.

 

[highway star]

Good post Charles. What I find funny is how I can go for quite a while with things going smooth, then I'll have 2 or 3 days where I seem to attract every idiot on the road.

The suggestion in that other thread that more regs will make us safer is just laughable.

 

[FIS53]

Hey Layout almost every long weekend the OPP go after the 4 wheelers like mad. The weekend rush of traffic is great because they can't escape the cops. They usually take over a 100 bad condition cars off the roads (seize, take the plates etc). They charge the drivers and tow the cars to an impound lot so the costs are high for the drivers of these wrecks. They also charge a lot of others for various things with over 1000 being charged. Always it is way more 4 wheelers being charged than trucks on these blitzes. The truck numbers when they go after trucks look bad on a percentage as fewer trucks pulled over and more citations given or put out of service so the numbers are a little skewed giving the public a perception of a large number of trucks are unsafe or operated improperly. But they cite you for a burnt out light and any other minor thing and this goes into the stats making trucks look worse than they really are (in many cases).
Rob

 

[greg334]

The root cause of most of these accidents is the training and lack of enforcement for all on the road. The vehicle is not the problem, trucks drive more miles but have a low incidence of accidents which does not mean that the driver is better trained but works harder to maintain control. Accidents here reflect the need for better training, stiffer fines and punishments and a system of licensing that is consistent across the entire country.

 

[Bruno]

If they built a road just for Trucks with our Road tax money, cars wouldn't drive on nice roads then. We as truck owners and drivers pay more for the roads than cars do. let trucks sit for a week and see what would happen, but that would never happen. Jim Hoffa had the right idea going and the goverment knew it. The truck driver is the backbone of America, but we get stepped on in every way. Without us America stops.