Received ticket for ice falling off trailer in NJ

I KNOW they were following to closely! We had the same thing down here several years ago with a lady who lost her windshield but her story was it "bounced" and hit her! I had to laugh at that!

I started watching "falling" ice and snow off of trucks. The sheets that flew mostly off the rear of the truck hit the ground and burst within 1 truck length behind the trailer and I never have I seen a sheet bounce off the ground!

Now some of the sheets that come from further up the front of the trailer I have seen blow off the side and that is not a good thing! That driver is not following to close and has a good reason for a law suit.

I had a state trooper in NY on the toll road before I got on pull me into the drop trailer lot and told me I had to get the snow and ice off the top of the trailer and he told me the best way to do it was to get in the trailer and hit the roof with a load lock or broom. Then do some jerky turns and braking to make it slide off. Well it worked BUT if you work for a company that loves to watch your "hard braking" I wrote the times and date down and sent them in to CMA!

There are a lot of places in the NE and NW that have those scrapers set up mostly at large union operations and Fed X and UPS but truck stops and other shippers and receivers should set them up also. They are not that hard to build or maintain and the cost should be reasonable especially if they are a drop and hook physically.

Take a little responsibility for your freight haulers!

 

I thought you were joking.

 

Wish I were but that's the story! I just walked around inside the trl hitting the roof and loosened the ice up and then drove like a moron through the drop yard. It worked but the shop had a laugh at the 17 hard brakes I did but the ECM showed then all in a 2 minute span! I'll go the hard way over a freaking ticket!

 

Yeah, those scrapers are nice and work well. We have those at terminals that sit near the Ohio Turnpike since a little snow on the roof will get you denied because of the strict 13'6" limit. After this past weeks blizzard, I saw some trailers leaving our yard with 2 feet of snow on the roof. Just looked like one big accident and lawsuit waiting to happen. I would think a company as large as mine would consider spending a little money now to avoid a huge lawsuit or fine later. This is something that our drivers will be bringing up to the safety department.

 

I hear that. I'm in NJ now and I noticed they have those signs up saying, "Remove Ice from Vehicle."

Most of the ice and snow is not that dangerous though. I got hit by a number of pieces coming off of a few different trucks. They were pretty loud when they hit the windshield or top of the truck, but shattered on impact. It even helped to get my windshield clean.

The real danger is those big chunks of ice that will only break free on a major bump.

I don't think I've ever seen those scrapers but our only big drop yard is in Oklahoma so it's not much of a problem there.

 

I have an idea but i dont know if it would work or not. I also havent read this entire thread. All it takes is some rope and a fellow driver. You take one side of the trailer and your helper goes to the other. Ya throw the rope over and he grabs it. Now you both pull tight and walk it down the length of the trailer a couple times. It doesnt cure the problem, but it would remove as much as possible. It's not like we can climb on the trailers and scrape the stuff off.

Edit: It may work well if before hand you do what was mentioned above and bust up the ice from inside the trailer.

 

What do you do when you are hooking to a preloaded sealed trailer that has been sitting through a snowstorm and subsequent days of warming and freezing, if getting inside the trailer is not an option.

I have wondered if the "Streakin' Beacon" could use the hot pressure wash to at least melt most of it away....

 

Yes any truck wash will be glad to wash the top of the trailer off as they surely aren't dong very many truck or trailer washes in snowy weather except on those drivers with more money than brains! Money is money! I've done it more than once and it costs the same a a trailer wash. But thats cheaper than a ticket and more fun than looking at blue lights in the mirror!

 

Find the one person who has the least power to change it, the least money to pay the fine and enforce these law though them......