No Safety Cover On Construction Dump

I know they have one here.. I have had my windshield cracked a few times because of dumps not tarping.. I called y insurance company and they called the company all the driver had to say is yup it was tarped and I had to pay my detectable for a windshield. unless you get a pic your most likely not going to win.

 

I run dumps here in Georgia and the tarp is more so to keep dust down. Sand and 810's (kinda like sand as well) are about the only things that are going to blow everywhere and most of the time if they come out of a quarrey, they're wet. The smallest rock we haul is 89's which are smaller than a dime and usually used in aspahlt mix, and even they don't blow out. Most all broken windshield are a result of tires and tailgates. Tailgates get bowed out and the latches come out of adjustment. To agjust the latches you have to take the linkage apart and heat a rod and than loosen or tighten a nut. Well thats usually too much trouble for most so they just weld the latch pins to make up for the gap, that kind of rigging doesn't work. Tires are the main thing, remember those trucks are in and out of quarries all day long. The tires are usually full of rocks so when they hit the highway, watch out. Here in Ga if we have our little "Stay back 100 ft" and "truck not responsible for objects coming from road" stickers, your SOL as far as legal issues. Also trucks coming off asphalt topping jobs will have tires caked with tack which EVERYTHING sticks too so your looking at a good 2 miles of flinging rock and other crap everywhere. Sorry my post is so long, hope it helps. Oh and we DO have to run our tarps or its a pricey insecure load ticket.

 

In CA the "Stay back 100 ft" is not legal.
You as a driver are responsible to maintain tail gates and hopper gates. Rocks in tires are to be removed either by going over "rumble strips" or the driver must physically remove rocks from the tread.
The construction company I worked for years ago stressed that point to all of the drivers, to where if a driver failed to ensure his vehicle was clean and safe, they were sent "Down the Road" the union be ######.

 

i hate getting behind them guys on my motorcycle, it's like getting your face sandblasted. so i do what i gotta do to get around them.

 

There is a reason most dump trucks/belly dumps,flow boys,and most other haultrucks have a stay back so many feet sign on the back ........ however in most cases tarps are used however when the weather gets cold the less tarps get used and if theres been an ice storm you would be hard pressed to find someone dumb enough to try to handroll a tarp at the quarry. That being said more rock falls out of ready mix trucks than most dumptrucks just b/c of how their designed let alone the mud and other crap that gets up in our frame and in between the duals from the places we have to get into so i wouldnt suggest following us to close either.

 

sometimes tarps tear up,the switches quit working.

 

or they get torn up

an old employer of mine bought a new ARNE's triple axle side dump, if the tarp was on ( it wasnt for long) and you were dumping on the passenger side, it would hit the tires....and rub if moving

but i got good enuf (after the tarp system was removed) to dump a windrow almost as good as a belly's

only myself and the boss were alowed to pull that trailer, it would be too easy to knock it over...ask MJSTEF about it.....he laid that truck over this summer

 

Most of the time we tarp. But, we're usually hauling sand, and that is mostly a courtesy thing for other drivers. When we're running rock we will typically leave them open. We load so far down inside of the trailer that it's never going to come out let alone blow out. The post about the tires is dead on. Most of the debris is coming off of them, not out of the trailer.
As for the poster with the motorcycle, I go out of my way to get you guys in front of me, I used to ride too, and I know nothing beats sand or a nice peice of driveway gravel in you face at 60 mph!

 

Still makes the driver responsible for all the rocks on the tailgate chute that bounce for miles because the driver was to lazy to clear them off. And all the rocks that bounce from a leaky load because the tailgate doesn't fit right & leaks.

I've paid for a windshield on a car that busted from a rock I picked up on a drive in & out of a saw mill.

Every little bit of good relationship with the local folks goes a long way when it involves a nasty big truck.