Ooooklahoma where the wind goes sweeping down the plain

[themechanic]

 

[gdrill]

Shitty Not an extremely rare sight in Southern Alberta where I live. We have a West wind that lays over North and South bound trucks quite often.

 

[themechanic]

My first thought was why isn't there a release mechanism between the tractor and trailer for situations as this?

 

[SlingLow]

Product idea: How about an outrigger axle that could be lowered to the ground on the downwind side. I know that would make them over width but geez, that's better than dumping your gear and your load!

 

[Cranky]

My first thought was why isn't there a release mechanism between the tractor and trailer for situations as this?

Gotta drop the landing gear before you can release it....

 

[Cranky]

Product idea: How about an outrigger axle that could be lowered to the ground on the downwind side. I know that would make them over width but geez, that's better than dumping your gear and your load!

Being too wide is why....da law is da law.

 

[themechanic]

Gotta drop the landing gear before you can release it....

Not in an eminent rollover. At least you can save the driver and the tractor by releasing the load.

 

[Cranky]

Not in an eminent rollover. At least you can save the driver and the tractor by releasing the load.

What about the cost and liability issues if the releasing mechanism fails while in traffic and takes out several vehicles and kills many? Just the cost for a device like that would make most trucking companies cringe....

 

[themechanic]

What about the cost and liability issues if the releasing mechanism fails while in traffic and takes out several vehicles and kills many? Just the cost for a device like that would make most trucking companies cringe....

Maybe they should be held liable for emergency response, cleanup, environmental damages, etc. Maybe they should be restricted from driving when crosswinds of sustained 45 mph and gusts over 70 mph are going on.

 

[Cranky]

Maybe they should be held liable for emergency response, cleanup, environmental damages, etc. Maybe they should be restricted from driving when crosswinds of sustained 45 mph and gusts over 70 mph are going on.

I think some states do restrict them during high wind events and someone does pay for the towing and cleanup....usually the owner of the rig.

 

[SlingLow]

.usually the insurance company of the owner of the rig.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Detective D]

I am not a truck driver.
Does driving slower have an impact on this situation? Would restricting the amount of air that can go underneath the trailer assist? They make side skirts now.
I am sure the aero bits of a tractor/trailer have been studied for a long time. I am curious if this is something that could be avoided by the driver(travel speed) or through investment(aero skirts) or if this is simply an unavoidable situation because of the nature of a large, flat panel in the wind.

 

[themechanic]

It's the wind pushing the side of the trailer that causes it. There's a lot of surface area. Think of a sail in the wind driving the sailboat. Ever see a catamaran tip over on a windy day?

 

[Cranky]

Fixed it for you.

I hope most of us knows that lol but the more claims the higher the premium too, right....

 

[Cranky]

I am not a truck driver.
Does driving slower have an impact on this situation? Would restricting the amount of air that can go underneath the trailer assist? They make side skirts now.
I am sure the aero bits of a tractor/trailer have been studied for a long time. I am curious if this is something that could be avoided by the driver(travel speed) or through investment(aero skirts) or if this is simply an unavoidable situation because of the nature of a large, flat panel in the wind.

A buddy of mine is a trucker and he hates to pull a dry van or refers....prefers flat beds and really likes when they are loaded with milled lumber. Don't know much about loads but thinking that a load of lumber means the load is more even throughout the trailer?

 

[SlingLow]

A buddy of mine is a trucker and he hates to pull a dry van or refers....prefers flat beds and really likes when they are loaded with milled lumber. Don't know much about loads but thinking that a load of lumber means the load is more even throughout the trailer?

I would think that heavier/denser loads would have a lower center of gravity.

 

[Cranky]

I would think that heavier/denser loads would have a lower center of gravity.

And lumber is usually not stacked so high since if it was, the truck would be over 80k lbs. Had to laugh one day when he was over about 200 lbs and unloading all of his blocking brought the weight down to legal lol. He said just being 10 lbs over would generate a ticket if he couldn't get it off. What kind of percentage is that? .00001? Geez

 

[XS22J8R]

Product idea: How about an outrigger axle that could be lowered to the ground on the downwind side. I know that would make them over width but geez, that's better than dumping your gear and your load!

Cost and weight. In trucking how much weight you can haul is a prime consideration. Even if it was free, if the contraption weighed 1000 pounds, that’s 1000 pounds less freight you can load in the trailer, and therefore less money you can make for a trip.
When high winds are forecast, I sometimes hear alerts or maybe they are even bans issued about trailers on highways. I assume these alerts are given in Oklahoma too and if so certainly those would have been in effect with those winds. Which begs the question, why were those truckers out on the road in those conditions? At a minimum the highway patrol should be ticketing them.
Edit: I looked online and found many reports of trailer bans that have been issued for high wind conditions. Do only some states do that but not Oklahoma?
High Winds: Travel ban for certain trailers on Turnpike until early Monday

 

[AR67GTX]

With how far out they forecast this storm, when the winds started to get bad, I would think a lot of them would look for the first place they could park with tail or cab pointing into the prevailing wind direction. And ride it out until it’s over.

 

[RemCharger]