18 wheels on that semi or 10 ?????????????????????????????????

I just gave a short description of what happened . Not the long story and if i told you the whole story I would still be trying to put it down, you would go soak your head in the oven. Interesting reading, a touch of days gone by. Not a description of the several days events, many officers involved and one was a friend and we had an emergency with hazmat and had the governors blessing. . If I had explained in detail you would accuse me of leaving off the " you ain't gonna believe this sh1T " at the beginning.
Don't go judging someone or place blame due to reading a short description you know nothing about..

In your opinion I assume, that police, ambulances and fire trucks and other emergency vehicles and specialty equipment should not break the speed limit to an emergency when conditions and roads are clear?
Have you or are you involved in emergency solutions in any way? Doubtful. 45+ years ago things were done differently.
Just a point .
I carried a badge from the Senator George Sangmeister's office as a Legislative representative at that time.
Did you know that the interstates were first designed for 100,000 lbs and 100 + mph and were to give our military a one day maximum travel between bases and depots?Now you do.

The problems of today are partly due to idiot uncaring drivers that barely passed driving school and refuse to learn anything 6 weeks after going solo that tailgate, run over fire plugs , street signs, take out gates, take off hoods, cut people off after passing or just get road rage for little or no reason and cant read a BOL with Hazmat in it or know how to put on placards or are able to think for them selves...The GPS said to turn here.
Me first attitude. Little or no self pride. They dress like dumpster divers, talk like dumpster divers and act like dumpster divers and we all are treated like those. . Few of these changes today are due to what we as drivers did 40+ years ago.


History about the profession some choose to work in is lost on a lot of people that choose to work in it.. So many don't read about it, do not care about it and then when bad changes happen it is blame others for it..

 

Your tires, the truck, and the roads were all not designed for 80K to be rolling at 90 mph. 100K at 55 is a lot different load then 100K at 90. 3000 pound car at 90 is fine to, but 100k at 90 is reckless. Emergency vehicles are smaller and weigh a lot less. In your original post you didn't say it was an emergency situation. If your having a "hazmat emergency" isn't the best corse of action to get to a safe stopping point? At 90 mph your chance of a blow out and rollover is way higher and your risking making the situation way worse. I cant imagine the hazmat destruction would be a lot different at 65 compared to 90. At 90 mph a pothole could send you rolling. with a police escort or not, its simply reckless. Many ambulances and police cars use car tires rated to 85+ mph. Truck tires are generally rated for only 75. You acted reckless and though this would be a cool story and now your trying to justify it. Unless people would die unless you go 90, it is reckless. I'm not sure what kind of hazmat your were hauling, but speeding generaly doesn't make the breach less. Who cares if you had the governors permission. Its still reckless.

 

Hmmm... they didn't call it the "Monfort Lane" because them boys were only loafing at 90 mph...

 

Hi ironpony, I love references to Monfort Trucking. Can you believe , there is a whole generation of truckers that don't know who Monfort was? In case some don't know, I'll briefly educate you.
Monfort Trucking was an outfit out of Greeley Colorado in the '70's, and hauled meat to the East Coast, and promised their clients they'd get the product there faster than anyone else. Rumor has it, they paid off Law enforcement to turn a blind eye when these trucks came barreling down I-80 non-stop to the east coast(note extra fuel tanks) They had K-Whoppers with big motors and tall gearing, and were always in the left lane, hence the "Monfort Lane". If you saw a yellow K-Whopper in your mirror, you'd best move over, as they routinely would go 80-90 mph.I always wondered about the LEO payoff deal, when a friend saw an old Monfort trailer(faded lettering) tipped over, and on the roof, he saw what appeared to be "Monfort "on the roof, which would explain the bears in the air would see that, and radio to the units on the ground, a Monfort truck was headed their way.
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt192/rlrobbins/monfort/001_1336.jpg

 

I heard stories about them. Running triple digits in the left lane hauling swinging meat. Owner paid any and all speeding tickets that the drivers got....if they stopped at all that is.

 

There was very little traffic on the big road compared to today... wouldn't be possible to get away with that now.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4037014]Hi ironpony, I love references to Monfort Trucking. Can you believe , there is a whole generation of truckers that don't know who Monfort was? In case some don't know, I'll briefly educate you.
Monfort Trucking was an outfit out of Greeley Colorado in the '70's, and hauled meat to the East Coast, and promised their clients they'd get the product there faster than anyone else. Rumor has it, they paid off Law enforcement to turn a blind eye when these trucks came barreling down I-80 non-stop to the east coast(note extra fuel tanks) They had K-Whoppers with big motors and tall gearing, and were always in the left lane, hence the "Monfort Lane". If you saw a yellow K-Whopper in your mirror, you'd best move over, as they routinely would go 80-90 mph.I always wondered about the LEO payoff deal, when a friend saw an old Monfort trailer(faded lettering) tipped over, and on the roof, he saw what appeared to be "Monfort "on the roof, which would explain the bears in the air would see that, and radio to the units on the ground, a Monfort truck was headed their way.
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt192/rlrobbins/monfort/001_1336.jpg[/QUOTE]

And was any of that safe? I think it was reckless. there was no reason to go that fast. No freight is worth a life. back then cars would routinely go 55. Thats a 25-35mph difference which is just dangerous. If they sped like that, i bet they didn't care about keeping the weight legal either which makes it even more dangerous. In the 70's, tires weren't what they are today either making it even more reckless. The people that ran like that didn't care about anyone but them selves and truly gave trucker the bad name we are still dealing with today.

 

Oh Richter, I'm not sure where to start. The '70's were anything BUT safe. Corruption and illegal activity were the norm. And you are right, it's one of the reasons the industry is so heavily regulated today because of it. But that doesn't mean it didn't go on. Monfort hired the best of the best, it wasn't for wimps, and I don't remember companies like Monfort having that many problems, these guys were experts at what they did. Of course, you can't do that today, but back then, it was all about who got the freight there 1st. Like I said, I'm sure Monfort (and many others) LOADED the wagon and went for it. I can name several cheese haulers from Wis. that "double stack" loads were a regular thing. If you didn't live through that era, like me and the other old timers here did, it's almost impossible to describe what it was like. Smokey and the Bandit put a humorous take on it, but it wasn't that far from the truth. It's history, man!

 

I disagree with "Complaining about it won't get you anywhere". That is an attitude problem that this Country has and I hear it all the time. So your answer than would be to just take whatever the "powers-that-be" throw at us, right? Just adapt you say.... Some changes, like technology are generally fine and needed in most instances but, not all technology is feasible....like trucks going down the road with no driver! The industry would have changed, because of technology, regardless of old timers. That is just the way it was done back then, period. People do stuff like that today, not exactly like they did back than but I feel they are more dangerous today going 90 than they were back than. I see trucks following too close to a 4 wheeler all the time. And lets not forget what the parking lots look like at all the truck stops. There was more respect for the industry back then, than there is today. I am not knocking you for your opinion but, you got to look at the whole picture.

 

Careful you don't fall off that high-horse you're perched on.