Unsecured load

I will add my thoughts. On the tarp anyhow. I hauled an electrical switch last week. It needed tarp. Dims were 7x7x11'8. I had to strap over the top, no other way to tie it down.
I could have strapped then tarped. However I have found on a load that doesn't come out to the sides of the trailer or close to. It tarps easier, stays tighter, and looks neater to tarp then strap.
Now, granted this wasn't almost 12' tall. There are times when you should tarp first.

 

So as the trailer flexes up and down it puts excess strain on the piece, trailer and securement. As you know, things that are self supporting need to be secured at the dunnage points.

 

What are we going to do when you are slamming doors and licking windows?

 

Some people take the 1 piece of securement for every 10 feet thing to mean that the securement actually has to be at the 10ft increments. I wonder how they would handle those bridge beams you use to haul on the dolly. Think they would just wrap a strap around the center of it just in case?

 

Talk about the proper way to slam a door, and lick a window! Duh!

 

I had a driver get a ticket in KY, for improper securement once. His straps were at the 15' mark.

 

That applies to self supporting loads such as beams and crane booms.

 

I could easily see it being interpreted that way. Also depends what the load is.

Every now and then I haul spreader beams for lifting. They only weigh 5,000 lbs but are 40+ feet long. Not heavy enough to take the arch out of a trailer so they have to sit on 4x4s on each end. I usually put 3 2" straps on each end of them right around the 4x4s. Can't strap the middle as it would bend the beam.

EDIT:

Just like what @cnsper posted above while I was typing.

For sticks and bricks and steel I would have them within 8ft usually.

 

To his defense it was a 20' skid and weighed maybe 5k

 

The question I have been wanting to ask, but really just never bothered to type out, is

What is it that compels them to actually lick the window?
I have seen this behavior in some, and it really does look like a serious compulsion. Is it when they slam the doors, some particulate matter falls onto the glass and it has some nutritive value that is needed? Or is it more of a pavlovian response? slam door, lick window. Has any study been done on this, or is it a subset of some other behavior