Runaway Trucks

I voted that it isn’t always the drivers fault, but I do believe that at least 90% of the time it is. You can throw a lot of things in the equation, slick roads, things on the road, other traffic doing crazy stuff, and who knows what all else, but a careful driver who is not driving to fast and is not distracted is probably going to get back home with him and the truck all in one piece.

 

This is an interesting thread. There's a CHP commercial leo that deer hunts on our property. Pretty good guy, level headed, good sense of humor.
I asked him the same question the poll asks.
He said that when a truck takes the escape ramp or has what he called " brake smoking incident" they always do a full inspection of the truck before they let it back on the road. He said that in over 90% of the cases the fault was primarily the driver's. That includes brakes out of adjustment. He said that even with automatic slack adjusters the driver is still responsible for his brakes. If the brakes are found to be the cause of the runaway the driver will probably be cited.
Most of us know that automatic slack adjusters can have a high failure rate and they're not fool proof. With that thought in mind it pays to check them frequently.

 

A lot of what ASA's do is dependent on the setup. Get the pushrod length wrong when changing a chamber and many brands of slack adjusters will never adjust correctly.

They try and maintain a 90° pushrod to slack adjuster angle. Cut the rod too short, they'll eventually overstroke. Cut it too long and they'll ratchet up tight over time.

 

I saw that one too voted YES on both

 

Where else did you post it?

 

I am betting if it was a 1 to 5 scale it would be mostly towards the driver being at fault.

I would have answered yes to "Is a runaway truck typically driver error?"...but the absoluteness of this poll made me vote as "No" simply because there is probably some cases that are not driver error.

In polling absolute question language is best avoided.

 

I thought the way it was worded made it intriguing. Kinda liked the absoluteness of it. I voted yes, but I have been thinking about it for two days. Lol. Still can't come up with a different answer.

 

Well @Hammer166 here she is my old friend that took me on that famous ride.
It still belongs to a local company but not the same company that owned it when I drove it.
The company that owns it now restored it probably 20 years ago and they use it for parades only now.
When I drove it it looked exactly the same only it was black with cream colored stripes.
It even still has the straight pipes on it.
Oh how that old 435 Detroit silver 92 did sing when you got after it.
Once a year it comes to my shop for its yearly motor vehicle inspection and I get a chill every time it pulls in the shop lol.
I must have told the owner my story of the ride I took in it at least a thousand times lol.