Can a load shift wreck you?

yessireee !!!!!!!!!!

 

It's happening somewhere as I type this...

 

most of the flipped over trucks i have seen in all this years were on straight 3 or 4 lanes higway.
i think it has to do with loosing concentration or falling asleep.

 

Taking curves,corners,ramps has always wrecked drivers going too fast.

 

Yep, it can. As you said, sometimes because of load shifting, but more often from other causes. Loads shift for several reasons; loaded top heavy by shipper, improperly secured within the van trailer (rolls of newsprint are notorious for this), improper packaging.... the list goes on and on. Flatbed is a whole other discussion. Some cargos are inherently unstable like the liquid chemicals I haul, they always are moving and shifting weight front to rear and side to side.

Now you know what the little yellow speed signs on exit/entrance ramps are for. They warn truckers about the safe speed in those curvy ramps. That's something you should think about the next time you or one of your friends decide to pass a big rig on a tight curve..... or cuss at him for going "so slow".

 

Those speed limits are for cars if a trucker is going the posted speed he is going way too fast.

 

Hey Nekom.. Depending on what the driver was hauling, a load shift could have caused that. If they had a top heavy load (eg-large paper rolls, carpeting) that could have caused it if fell over. My guess is the driver fell asleep or had a top heavy load. Wind couldve played a factor, but it would take a good gust of it to do that. Hope i helped answer your question.

 

I have had three notable load shifts since I started. Two were in a curve in the road and one was on a left turn.
(1) Picked up master rolls of TP in a sealed trailer, they put them on the wrong pallets and there was no bracing or strapping like there was supposed to be, after 25 miles or so, some got loose and fell over so when I went into a "S" curve in the road, my trailer started tipping and the chassis got all the way into the drive tire, luckily when I straightened out to keep it upright I was heading into the other part of the "S" but I had to hog part of the lane next to me and I dont think the folks in the car appreciated it.
(2) Hauling brake drums from one plant location to another, stacked in old metal baskets, they put too many in some baskets and they collapsed then the springs broke lol, looked like I was hauling a drunk trailer when I pulled into the plant.
(3) Bringing a sealed trailer to the plant full of axles in metal racks. Instead of loading them so the axles were facing front to back, they loaded them in sideways and as soon as I came around the corner, you could hear all this pop, pop, bang pop which was the axles coming out and hitting the wall of the trailer. The guys in the yard said they could see the top of the trailer when it leaned and they knew what was loaded in them when they heard all the noise.

All three were pretty scary and I ended up with luck on my side