Stuck Truck

Another fine move from a Swifty.

 

Wish I was the Swift company dentist. With all the screwups they have he must get a bunch busted teeth to work on.

 

Hold it folks! While I am not a fan of Swift either, take a good look at the picture and then reread the story. Unless there is some reason that I am unaware of why Swift suddenly bought 14' high trailers, this guy would have been pulling a trailer at 13'6" tall. With the bridge marked at 13'8", I would have done the same things he did. I would have slowed and crossed under the bridge. There are three options here. Either this driver did nothing wrong, Swift has some really oddball trailers, or the numbers quoted in the story are not correct.

Based solely on the reporting in the story, I have to question what really happened and whether or not the driver was at fault. Typically, a 4 inch hit (14' - 13'8") does not result in the damage pictured above. It tears some aluminum, but doesn't buckle the entire trailer.

 

Our truck had a clearance of 13'6" and so does our new one and so did others Mike drove. Isn't that kind of the standard?

Just checked, all truck/trailer combinations in this province can be a MAXIMUM of 13'6" or you require a permit so no way we'd have expected not to fit under this.

Now, with a 13'8" overpass, I'd definitely slow and crawl under it 'cause that's really tight but he should have fit, I would think.

 

While there are trailers with 14' heights that run out west, and this accident was out there, I never thought that Swift would be running them. Since they are famous (as are all the big companies) for just sending a driver out to find any empty trailer they can find, they take a huge risk that a guy will pick up a taller than normal tailer and head off for the east coast with it. Most of the companies that have specific trailers for the taller western rules manage their equipment very well, not just allowing any driver to pick up any trailer.

I hate to mention how many times I have seen a Swift, Jb or even Schneider truck circling the lot looking for any empty wagon they can get their hands on.

 

I would guess that this driver wasn't going slow. He hit it rolling.

 

Many, if not most (all?) semi-trailers are clearly marked at the front corners as to their length when they're 53 footers. I wonder why trailers exceeding 13' 6" aren't marked accordingly?

Also, does Swift run low-profile tires on the drivers? If so, if a tractor is running high-profile tires AND a 14 foot trailer, what would the actual height be?

Also, Burky brings up a good point. A four inch too high trailer would most likely be topped -- peeled back, rather than wedged like the one pictured. I wonder if the load had anything to do with the outcome?