Personal vehicle drivers are starting to become bolder and like to play chicken with big rigs. This does not end well for the personal vehicle, the truck, or any drivers nearby. Let alone property.
A twitter feed posted in late July from the Ontario Provincial Police shows the dash cam of a truck driver who got caught behind a blue Toyota who decided to brake test the big rig in the rain. The video shows the Toyota corolla pass the truck, pull in front of him, and apply the brakes. The truck swerves away from the little blue car but jackknifes the road divide and takes out two other tractor-trailers and four cars.
The Toyota corolla was unscathed and the incident they caused tied up traffic for hours. Thankfully, the cops caught up with it and the driver was charged with dangerous driving, but the damage they caused doesn’t match the light fee.
The truck’s dash cam proved that the incident wasn’t a case of reckless driving for the driver, and it certainly saved the truck driver for insurance purposes. Dash cams gave the driver the proof he needed in this instance. But there is the larger issue of cars doing these kinds of maneuvers and causing these trucks to veer off like they did in the video.
The automatic braking system in a lot of newer trucks rip the control right out of the driver’s hands. They certainly have their uses, but like in this video, in the rain and with dangerous drivers about, it caused the truck to jackknife into the divide and lose his entire engine.
Most personal drivers may not know about the ABS, but when they do, it could lead to more situations of drivers getting more dangerous around big rigs when they know that the rig must slow down, and the driver has no choice. In the rain it’s frightening, but in sleet, snow, or ice, it can become nightmarish.
An overactive ABS can also lead to cargo theft, as all a car has to do is slow down in front of a truck to get it to stop. Then they can unhitch the trailer and make off with it, once again, the driver can do nothing from the wheel.
The ABS in many new trucks needs to have an override in place, as braking is just as important as driving, especially with a multi-ton truck. If a driver cannot control a braking truck, it can lead to bigger problems than a single accident.
Source: truckinginfo
I completely agree with your article. I have been working for a company that rents Ryder trucks, which have forward looking collision avoidance in place. All eight trucks this year have poorly aligned systems which instigate a panic stop in less than two seconds. The last one caused injury to me from seatbelt. A full on brake event from 65 mph without any warning (okay, beep,beep, beep – slam on brakes is no warning) is stupid dangerous! These mandated systems are in no way technologically ready for safe driving and outweigh any safety value.
Saying freight theft is a bit of a stretch. But I believe these systems cause more problems than they solve. But considering what these so called driving schools are putting on the road, I can see why these systems are being developed. In the meantime, I’ve got cameras on my truck that records 24/7 from all 4 sides.
This is article is wrong on many levels. First, anti-lock brake systems do not take control of the the truck. They measure the hub speeds and compare to detect if any hubs are travelling at a different speed (a.k.a. skidding). If a skid is detected, the system pulses the air supply at the skidding hub(s) so the driver can maintain control. If the tractor and trailer ABS are functioning properly, the chances of jack-knifing are significantly reduced. This is is especially true on slick roads.
Trucks equipped with driver assistance programs (e.g., Bendix Wingman) employ additional sensors to help drivers avoid collisions. In the example given where the car suddenly slows/stops in front of the truck, the collision avoidance system detects the rapidly closing distance and will apply the brakes if the driver does not. This happens so fast that it seems that the truck has taken control from the driver, but it really is the result of the computer being able to react much quicker than the driver and may apply more brake than the driver feels necessary.
Drivers who have not received adequate training on these systems may try to override them by blocking sensors, disconnecting wires, etc., which could be the difference between a brief inconvenience and a tragic rear end collision.
In this case tho the system failed totaled 1 rig and crashed into several other vehicles. And if he hadn’t had a camera the cops might not have found the car that caused the problem. Best to just run the DF over and not crash into everyone else. But I’ll agree with u that it was the CAS not the ABS. That caused that wreck.
Said the rep from the tech company who put the Collision avoidance system in the trucks! You obviously haven’t spent any real time driving a truck with the system in it!
Drove a truck with the front facing radar and it would actually brake me whenever I came to an overpass on a bright sunny day. I’d come to the shadow and the brakes would come on. Another time, I was in a curve on a 2-lane road, met a truck and the radar brake checked me. Did it when making turns onto narrow streets. Very disturbing when I thought about it doing this on icy roads.
ABS can also lead to identity theft: the computers can alter the information on credit and debit cards. The thieves pull up alongside the commercial truck and force the truck driver to slow down. Of course, you need a female passenger to expose her bare breasts to distract the driver. The information on the magnetic strips is then transmitted to the blank debit card or credit card. Before the the driver of the commercial truck is aware of data theft, the thieves have maxed out the cards with one purchase on Amazon.
Say what?
I had automatic braking in a couple trucks a few years ago. Things slammed on the brakes multiple times when I didn’t want it to and could have caused a few accidents. Not once, ever, did it prevent an accident
To correct the major error in this article, the issue is not ABS, it’s CMS or Collision Mitigation System. Heavy trucks are actually taking the lead in Automated Driver Augmentation Systems which ranges from collision prevention or reduction, adaptive cruise control and active braking, even blind spot and lane departure monitoring. This is all stuff that is incremental in making the truck more autonomous but in the meantime it means drivers are expected to surrender control to imperfect technology. Most experienced drivers will have none of it and this article illustrates just one example where the tech didn’t fix a problem but actually created it.
We need to just park our trucks until this BS is removed. I drive one and Hell yes they’re dangerous. The brakes come on and unexpectedly frightened the Hell out of ya. And you don’t want to hear the vulgar words I got to say about the distance noise. I quit one good job due to the crybaby noise. We should go on strike until it’s removed from all trucks.
All you have to do is Floor the accelerator! It takes control if you are on cruise control. I have three dash cams in my rig if some 4wheeler wants to test his luck? Ok then.
I have been against these things from the beginning, Ive had it read road signs as a vehicle and apply the breaks on a curve, a bridge that was at the bottom of a hill, and for no reason at all!! They are dangerous the technology if flawed but they know that!
When I started otr we had “lane assist” “adaptive cruise” and yaw and rollover prevention. None of this stuff worked like it should. It was either out of calibration or just broken. In a picture perfect world I could see where these and the CMS could help. But add water, icy roads , bald tires, gravel etc and the computer doesn’t turn off it just slams on the brakes and wrecks the truck.