A Question to Truckers About Dangerous Items to Transport

Truck and trailer matters far more for danger than any freight. Pulling a triple set of pups in snow with a single axle neutered truck over a mountain pass with white volvo's nearby is far and away more dangerous than hauling a 53 footer full of IBC's of chloroform being pulled by a high hp/tq 18 speed Coronado.

They're rare as hens teeth but there are unbaffled tankers that look like a shipping container. A square tanker has ungodly bad surge issues. I'd rather pull a quad axle tanker with 60k lbs of liquid than the square tankers.

Corporate bean counters and insurance companies make trucking dangerous. Not the freight. Plus the fun hazmat stuff will make your screw up someone else's problem usually.

But as far as the most dangerous freight, probably the upper divisions of class 1 hazmat. Or anhydrous ammonia. Heard of a few guys locally who died from that stuff.

 

Soon to be ex-wife and her stupid poodle in the cab on a trip to the west coast and back. The ex almost got left on the side of the road along with the poodle that peed on my seat while out of the truck.

 

I could think of atleast 100 things that are more dangerous than potatoes chips.. for starters we could start with structural steel or a suicide coil

 

Chips are a killer.

 

Un-baffled tanks are problematic in various ways BUT I have direct experience with large sheets of glass - the industrial type with chicken wire laminated inside - in 8 x 12 sheets boxed and standing like books on a shelf in an open-top 20' container. Super top heavy after seeing two of them on their sides.

Most tanker motion is linear -front to back to front motion - that drivers rapidly learn to control.

Side to side even small amounts of dense product can roll it over.

 

Ammonium nitrate

 

Old wives tale it may be, but i DID have a few snack bags of doritos from the store in the midwest explode open in my cab as i crossed the rockies a few years back. Pretty sure they normally adjust air volume/density based on where they expect things to be bought/sold

 

My in-laws had condo in mountains of CO. Bought food in Boulder CO. Went up mountain I was behind them in pickup. Noticed brake lights, swerve, everyone in car jump. “What was that?” Not 2 minutes later similar thing. Potato chips in back seat exploded.

 

Had that happen. It was surprisingly quite loud. Think it took three years off my life.