Coal Truck Driver Forgets to Lower Dump Body

[admin]

Pennsylvania is one of the most coal rich places on Earth. They’ve been mining the stuff there since the 1700s. Since coal does not move itself once dug out of the ground, it is loaded on trains, trucks, and barges to its final destination. Dump trucks are used in many shapes and sizes because often [...]

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[studemax]

We've had two instances recently of basically the same thing. Both guys took out the lanes of the bridges they hit, resulting in expensive and inconvenient repairs. There is NO EXCUSE for this, especially in Kansas where the wind blows all the time (I don't mean little breezes. Kansas means "southern wind" after all.) What am I talking about? Those raised beds are like sails, and the driver should have been savvy enough to feel the difference in handling between the bed down, and up swaying around in 30 MPH winds.

[ford141]

Just a little explanation on this accident. The driver did not pull away from his unloading point with the bed up. If he had, then yes, the bed swaying around would have alerted him pretty quick. What he did not do after dumping was disengage the PTO drive. All it takes at that point is bumping the dump lever and the bed starts going up. At highway speeds the engine is spinning pretty fast, so the bed will rise pretty quick, quicker than the driver can get stopped. Most dump trucks are equipped with a warning buzzer to warn the driver if the PTO is engaged, but oftentimes they become inoperable for numerous reasons (dirt, bad wires, etc.). This particular driver had already passed under several overpasses on that particular highway before hitting this one, indicating that the bed was not raised until he was already traveling at highway speeds.