Blade Hauler Mishap

ATS at their best.

 

Poor driver is about to get thrown under the bus. That was one of those self steering trailers. It's calibrated to the 5th wheel. It senses any turns in the 5th wheel and the trailer wheels mimic. In theory it sounds good, but I wouldn't bet my career on a theory.

HOWEVER, the way that thing is sitting off the trailer makes me question the securement and that alone is enough to hang a driver.

 

Ouch! That is gonna hurt someone's wallet. It is kinda weird that the trailer is up against the wall. If you go to the News Story they have 6 photos up there. The trailer tires are turned all the way to the left, you can see it in one of the photos. If that was not from hitting the wall then it was definitely equipment failure.

 

Oy. I didn't realize that was so close to me. I'm glad I missed getting mixed up with it.

 

It looks like the trailer hit the end of the concrete abutment, and things got worse form there. The trailer axles appear to be mangle a bit.
If Triple 6 is correct then it appears it was an equipment problem; or the rear pilot car driver has an override to steer the dolly remotely?

 

The 3 axle ATS blade trailers are self steer. They were made to carry the biggest blades (currently 60meter, I believe)The ordinary 2 axle trailers have to be manually unlocked in order for the rear wheels to steer. IMO, the 2 axle trailers are safer because of this. The last thing you want to do is be 220ft long, hit a greasy spot on the road, and have your trailer decide to turn on it's own.

If the blade had stayed on the trailer, I would have said "100%trailer fault." Because it didn't, and the truck is still upright, driver error. It goes from being a manufacturer flaw to questions about the load securement, load shifting, driver sawing at the wheel and driving the trailer into the wall. That is, of course, unless the rear car (Colorado requires 2 pilot cars and a steer, 3 total) has video footage of the trailer slamming into the wall first, and then the load coming off. Even so, driver will be under suspicion.

 

You mean like....

Hmm, very suspicious that the load fell off the trailer

 

Yes self steer axles can be a PITA... I have noticed on our trailers with 2 steer axles that depending on road bumps and height difference in the road can cause the axles to wiggle and turn at there own pleasure..

One of our dump trailers flipped over making a left hand turn because we suspect with the hump in the road and the low man hole cover that the steer axle turned itself right (instead of left like it was suppose to in a left handed turn) forcing the trailers to go right... The driver wasn't speeding around corner as it would have been impossible given the weight (over 100,000lbs) and that he was at a red light so he couldn't have even gotten up to any speed that should have caused a flipped... We blame the steer axle pushing the trailer in the opposite direction of the way the truck is going..

I tell you new technology can be great but when every aspect of his operation has been tested to the max it can be a disaster.. When bad thing happen the drive can be blamed if the equipment failure isn't looked over well enough...

I do agreed that even if this hit the barrier at the rear I don't see why the front came off the trailer.. Maybe too little securement or maybe the sudden crash somehow stressed the securement up front and snapped the chains or whatever is holding it down...

 

ATS used to have a policy that as long as the load stays on the trailer they would protect the driver. When the front of the load fell off to the left, something else happened. ATS hauls loads like this all the time.