Truck Driver Killed by his load 4-22-16

30 + years ago, on the road right in front of our yard, a car pulled out in front of a friend of mine who was rolling at 45-50 mph with a load of 12" well casing. His company had a pipe yard & he was an experienced pipe hauler. He hit his brakes hard and the car as I recall. Several joints slid forward poping a few chains and hit the headache rack and pushed the rack into the cab and the back of the cab pushed Carl N. right up tight against the steering wheel. Unhurt, but white as a ghost when we helped him out of the truck. In this case, the rack saved his life. Now, this was 30 years ago, we were not as safety conscious as we are now. These guys used 2 of those old ratchet type, motorcycle chain comealongs to suck the load together then several 5/16 chains to secure the load. I remember the comealongs laying in the road along with a couple snap binders..My point though is a good headache rack CAN save your life. I would not haul pipe or steel without one.

 

Yep looks like nice steel so no chains but you can always have rubber and metal edge protectors. A bulkhead could have helped too. How high of a bulkhead have you ever made? After a certain hight it just seems to unstable.

 

My highest bulkhead is 16". Four 4x4s in a chained stack. Any higher, and they are simply too unstable to be of any use.

 

I think I've gone one higher.
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How about this?
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I'll have to try it sometime.

 

Do you guys think a stack of 4X4' would have done anything at all to help this situation?

 

Nope if you look closely, this guy had one on the back of bunk

 

It would help about as much as a stack of match sticks.

 

No. The very most important aspect of flatbedding is to "drive your freight".

What I mean is, since the freight we haul is typically a great deal of weight centered in just a few pieces (or just on piece), we helave to be much more careful in our driving, steering, and most importantly STOPPING.

No one, and I do mean NO ONE, can be ready for absolutely every eventuality on today's roads. But if you watch, you will see that there are not a lot of experienced flatbedders who race through traffic or tailgate other vehicles. The consequences of such actions are far too catastrophic.

 

I've never understood pulsing a cheap piece of lumber as a bulkhead. We haul railroad axles and they can slide. No chains allowed put three straps one being a belly wrap. We also haul cutting edges that like to slide.

I have a 6x6 eight foot long piece of oak that weighs almost as much as I do. I always use it on these loads and get I as close as possible.. What's the point in having it three feet away?

Most dunnage and fence board will snap if you drop it off your trailer. How on God's green earth is it strong enough to stop 45k?