I don't know what it is with the 60 miles of I-40 between Grants, NM and Gallup, NM but there always seems to be bad crashes. The last one is probably the deadliest in recent years. Anyway if you find yourself traveling this stretch of road be safe and alert.

 

https://www.koat.com/article/what-we-know-about-deadly-crash-involving-greyhound-bus/22877247
 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1727600570700099&id=263743636076&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&_rdr

Wow that's a mess.

Saw that yesterday. The first 12 feet of that bus was just gone. Amazing no more were killed.

Very sad indeed, what’s even more sad is it looks like it could have been preventable, looks like a front steer tire blew out, I am sure the authorities will be all over that one,  

As much is it nice to be able to jump on interstate and roll 75 to 85 MPH I think that this sure be revisited by the NTSB and consider dropping these speed limits back down. When you have 80,000-pound truck having a sudden failure on a steer axle there isn't much margin for an 80,000-pound truck and driver to make good choices and keeping people safe. Trust me I understand the feeling of an 80,000-pound truck I drive water tender for my local fire dept. That truck is at its margins for weight as is. Once you get that much weight rolling it takes some time to stop all that moving mass. I don't care how good you think you are of a driver or how good your truck is still the laws of physics kick in and you can only stop so fast. Faster you travel the longer it takes to stops.

Prevenatable... meaning a good pre trip should catch any tire deformality up on inspection. especially a steer tire being they are easily visible,  Tires just don’t blow out for no reason,  It does not matter if recap or virgin rubber, under inflation is the number 1 cause of tire failure. mismatched tires are right with that. 

 

No reason that truck could have not safely stoped on the shoulder after tire failure, one thing that I learned from experience is when a tire blows is that your going to smell it and possibly hear the belts separate before the tire actually blows especially being a steer tire where you are directly behind it.

The problem... 99% of people panic at highway speed and grab the brakes when a tire blows. The proper thing to do is to apply throttle to stabilize the direction before slowing down. 

 

 

Take notice in this video you can clearly see the tire blowout and the driver automatically stomped the breaks and the truck went right into the ditch just like the previous video showed. As he stomped the brakes the new direction was created and the truck went right into the ditch and rolled over killing the driver. 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 20186 yr by Mopar1973Man

i was taught to take your foot off of everything and let the vehicle slow itself while you concentrated on keeping the vehicle under control. I has worked fine in the few instances I have tires go down.

I drive a non baffled tanker and I can only say that maintaining torque on your trailer is what saves you from rolling over in a blow out. We use super singles and I've blown tires on every axle group. Fighting the instinct of hitting the brakes is hard in these situations. 

 

Granted most of us on the forum don't haul liquid, but I have seen accidents that could have been prevented if the driver had applied torque. The same can be said for having a jack knife. I've had instances where I had to stand on the brake, then immediately get on the hammer in order to straighten the trailer out to prevent an accident. 

 

 

4 hours ago, dripley said:

i was taught to take your foot off of everything and let the vehicle slow itself while you concentrated on keeping the vehicle under control. I has worked fine in the few instances I have tires go down.

 

For dry freight this is fine. If your hauling tanker you could roll that thing over.

 

But I will believe that every suituation is different. And that is like driving on ice roads.  Something that only a driver with time behind the wheel can figure out. 

 

I don't profess to know all, but having run team with drivers with years of experience more then my self that is what tell you. Experience.

Edited September 2, 20186 yr by pepsi71ocean

I have never driven a tanker, baffled or not. All the loads I ever hauled were dry and the biggest I ever hauled was pipe, cast iron and steel. Those required stopping and re tightening of straps and chains. The pipe will try and consolidate no matter how well you load it.

I have agree with you on the experience thing. Not every situation you find yourself in is in a book, nor do I completely trust the book. 

 Back in the early 70's when I was driving some good loads, the only thing you had to have was Chauffeurs license. To get that license I had to make 100% on the eye test. The license was only good for 2 years instead of the normal 4. With that I was qualified in the eyes of the State to drive anything. I am glad it is not quite so easy these days. The roads are much more crowded today than back then. Even today with schools and CDL's the norm, experience is only gained by doing the job. My hats off to the truckers and try to respect them and give them the room they need. 

Have years behind the wheel... when stuff is evolving in front of you it's very hard to do what doesn't come by instinct, like braking

  Trailer spike very good on ice and easy to grasp and becomes friend in very short time.  

Running off the road on purpose or making sure you get a little metal of the car coming at you in your lane, very hard to do.  

Joining the I-90 jack knife club is easy to do.   Never became a member after 33 years.  But did do a 360 on ice at about 15 mph with doubles and ended up going in right direction?.  Have no idea why I was lucky or whatever.

 

@dripley

Chain link fence will give you a chance to exercise every hour for couple hundred miles,  tighting down load.

 

Before I gave up my lic

 

Dot medical, employer medical. Haz mat, airbrake, double triple, twix card, finger print fed and employer.  Then after retiring changed to intra-state lic.  They still wanted $84.00.  Gave it all back.  Only side board I use now is on my 01?

Only thing I miss is not getting paid to be in a traffic jam.

 

 

Edited September 2, 20186 yr by 015point9
Added info

I've thought about getting my CDL just to have but all the requirements now not worth it for me. Being Fire Dept is exempt from CDL license requirements I can drive anything I wish. I've had good track record with the Fire Dept and still to this day no accidents. I've taken 4,000-gallon water tender places it really shouldn't be. Trust me you can grow a set of teeth in that hind end really fast on a mountain dirt road.

Being I'm in the maintenance field for these type of vehicles and also worked for Bridgestone for 13 years I know tires don't just blow out for no reason. I'd have to say number 1 cause of class 8 truck tire failures is overheating. Overheating is most common to driving too fast with under-inflated or over-loaded tires which causes the steel cords to break and next thing you know is a zipper rupture of the casing occurs. A lot of drivers like to ignore the early warning signs of a tire beginning to fail which is vibration. I bet the NTSB finds no manufacturer cause for the tire failure.

 

Anyway some updated reading...

https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/state-police-ntsb-launch-investigation-into-fatal-bus-crash-survivors-speak-out/1410223064

2 hours ago, 04Mach1 said:

Being I'm in the maintenance field for these type of vehicles and also worked for Bridgestone for 13 years I know tires don't just blow out for no reason. I'd have to say number 1 cause of class 8 truck tire failures is overheating. Overheating is most common to driving too fast with under-inflated or over-loaded tires which causes the steel cords to break and next thing you know is a zipper rupture of the casing occurs. A lot of drivers like to ignore the early warning signs of a tire beginning to fail which is vibration. I bet the NTSB finds no manufacturer cause for the tire failure.

 

Anyway some updated reading...

https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/state-police-ntsb-launch-investigation-into-fatal-bus-crash-survivors-speak-out/1410223064

 

Yes I agree with you there. Under our over inflated is huge here. But we see allot of steer failures now because of these new air suspension front axles. 

Reading the interview from The driver he said that it just locked up  , I don’t know if he meant the brakes or steering, something is not making sense, the only thing that maybe he locked the brakes with his foot in a panic situation 

I read about that too. I bet the sudden drag from the left steer blowing out likely pulled hard to the left giving the locked up feeling. I bet he is still pulling pieces of Freightliner seat out of his  from how tight he puckered when the tire blew. Rumor is the truck had retreaded steer tires which isn't illegal but is definitely not the best practice. 

 

 

Breaking news on KRQE Facebook page is he is a convicted bank robber that is on parole. He is screwed for sure and will get put through the ringer and if he is lucky will not get sent back to prison.