Truck Driver Killed by his load 4-22-16

... which I can understand. I was one of the original moderators of AR15.com, a Libertarian, and I have taken those battles to the steps of city hall in person myself...so I get it.

There is no question that legislation can go wrong, but it's working against you all the time without any participation from yourself, so you have to sometimes be pro-active to get some back.

My suggestion was that legislation be enacted to merely give an allowance for safety equipment. This in essence steps "back" from the 80k limit...or put another way "increases" it....allowing you to carry more weight without incurring permit costs if your rig was otherwise rated to carry it.
The idea is to just give the flatbedders a little breathing room... bolt on a couple extra tool boxes full of chains without worrying about it so closely.
The idea is that a flatbedder shouldn't need to be concerned about the weight of items that may help keep that load on the trailer instead of the road.

Nobody wants the government involved, but they are already involved, and their involvement shouldn't be making road goers less safe because of decisions it might be influencing.

Could that possibly go wrong simply because the government might open the dusty old file that has the rules and go "ah hah...and let's also change THIS while we're here!"?
I guess that's possible, but I think that anyone who believes that file isn't wide open all the time and considerations being made that affect you negatively, then that person is being ignorant.

Humble Opinion Expressed

 

The size and bulk would make it cumbersome for strap work. Chains, being heavier aren't bothered too much, but straps would be frustrating.

 

Hey Ozzie...does your buddy ever ship to the US? Ballpark cost of a set of 8 of the strap chokers. 2 inch will be fine.

 

If you are just wanting to wrap a strap back over on itself to multiply pull, then you can use an extra ratchet to do this.

 

He likes it.

More thinking less useless government meddling.

 

Ever since seeing this thread I observe every flatbed load I see going down I-75 though I am not a cdl driver yet.

Coming from Tampa to naples this morning I saw a couple loads I observded.

One was a flat bed with 6 foot tall 8 wide culverts. They were loaded open end to the sides. All they had for securement was a single strap through each one.

I was shocked they had no chains.

Next load I observed was a flatbed coming out of the weigh station near punta gorda.

It had 2 - 12 foot by 12 foot by 1 foot thick concrete slabs . There was only one chain going across each slab.
How is this legal?

There is road construction going on there, but I followed these trucks in heavy crazy traffic for 5 miles before I passed the oversize load.

 

Like this:

 

They say that Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance and his birth have something to do with each other. DB Cooper has him listed as a friend on Facebook. He doesn't like the name "Dorothy". He is the most interesting driver alive.

 

Here's another. I only have two straps out so I can't show the 3rd ratchet.



Or with just two straps:

 

A lot of stuff going down the road isn't legal, and cops don't know enough to stop them.

For a 12 foot long piece you would need at least 3 tie downs due to length, if it was a pure piece with no voids or anything you will probably need a couple extra chains for the weight. Maybe he had something on it you couldn't see going down the road, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was going down the road woefully under secured.

That brings us back to the problem with introducing any safety device. The people that are losing loads are not going to use it, and the people that will use the safety device are not losing loads.