Snow/ice on top of trucks???

That just gave me a horrid mental image. I think I need eye bleach just thinking about it!

 

Met a pick-up a couple days ago, had close to 4 or 5 inches of snow on the hood, windshield and cab with a little peephole for him to look out of. Had a cop pulled him over, he would have not been able to see to pull over.
How long has there been tractor-trailers in this country? Since the 30's maybe the 40's? How have people survived that long with this issue? I'm thinking....common sense maybe.

 

Ok....How about hiring Day Labors from Home Despot to clear the ice and snow off the trailers....They need the work when it slows down in the winter anyway....

Oh...don't attempt in Cali....Day labors are considered "employees" there....You need to file workman's comp....UE tax.....And carry group insurance if you hire more than five of them.........

 

We are, tarps are for oversized loads that pay more than $5 per mile and for guys who like to hold up the loading/unloading line by screwing with antique hand tarps.

What if the ice you lose hits cars in the other lanes (passing your lazy butt), or oncoming traffic? Haven't seen anyone answer that yet. I guess if someone loses a unit of lumber and it hits someone else it was because they were following too close huh?

 

Oh yeah....part of every driver's Pre-trip should include pulling rocks out of the treads too.....Since it should be the driver's fault if a stone should fly off and crack a 4-wheeler's windshield....

 

Bottom line, if I have rules I have to follow when it comes to stuff falling off my truck, so do the door slammers. No different than the tarp laws some places have referring to grain hoppers and dumps. Please explain how dust blowing out of a dump is different from snow of the top of a van? How is one acceptable and one isn't?

Here's 2 options I found in 30 sec. I'll put one in my lot and charge guys $100 to drive through it. You door slammers see nothing wrong with paying someone $300 to unload the products they ordered off your trailer, this should be a steal. I'll have to talk to the local cops to start writing tickets to drivers who fail to use it.

Cyclone works
Scraper systems

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKLHMOYKaSM

 

Until something like that is available for use everywhere, cleaning off the tops of the trailers isn't gonna happen. Are the companies going to pay for something like that to be done anywhere, and everywhere? Keep dreaming.

Do you clean off your car completely every time it snows? I'm not going up on a ladder to clean that crap off the trailer. Unsafe activity that falls under OSHA requirements.

How are you going to clean up all the snow the gets cleaned off the trailers with that nifty little gadget? You'll have to be out there with a plow or something on a regular basis.

If you haven't been out on the road in a big truck, you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

I suppose what it really comes down to is liability and cost. If you are comfortable with the liability of being sued due to damage/injury/causing an accident because of snow/ice falling off of your truck and if you make enough money that the paying the ticket isn't a problem then just run with it.

In my case, I'll be doing what I can and have to to avoid tickets, lawsuits, etc. Even if you win in court, how much did it cost you? Legal fees, court fees, time spent sitting, scheduling problems, so on and so forth (Say you operate out of CA, and your ticket is in NH, the traveling alone will cost a significant amount)

I'll avoid climbing on top, but a roof rake will get most of it from even a small step ladder (if you modified the rake with a bend or two, I'd wager you could get it done from the ground). Have some ingenuity and problem solving skills! The driver who tapped the inside of the roof with a load lock to help clear the snow is thinking about it right. Work smarter, not harder.

How would a snow/ice removal ticket look on the new CSA scoring system? Even if you disagree with the law, you still have to abide or face the consequences, right?

As to following too close (I do agree that most do follow too closely by the way), even if the snow is "harmlessly" blowing off, it does obliterate visibility in both directions of travel for quite a bit beyond even a normally safe following distance. This affects all motorists, commercial or otherwise.

Since we've also got a physics discussion here, lets say you are traveling northbound at 50 mph when a chunk of ice falls off of your trailer into the windshield of a truck traveling southbound at 50 mph. The ice will lose some speed as it falls, but it will hit the truck at close to 100 mph relative to the truck being hit. Is that enough force to cause damage to the truck and injury to the driver? Forget the "4-wheelers" for a minute, think about courtesy to your fellow truckers. Is it really that different from the punks who drop objects off of overpasses into traffic?

The law is inconvenient, but it does have some logic to it, doesn't it? I know I don't want 100 mph ice hitting me in the face, or damaging equipment that I either own or am responsible for.

Finally, yes it is unfair that the snow/ice removal laws are enforced more often on trucks than autos, but unless you are the guy (or gal) with the badge, what are you going to do about it?

 

Here's a thread that puts the ladder idea right out the window. Note the government organization that commented on the accident in the second paragraph in the quote.

Veteran Driver Dies