Novelist with a question

There was a thread on here eons about about someone "losing" a truck, trailer and driver. I guess he had an accident or medical emergency and was finally found but it does happen.

Smart police, Bonnie!!!

 

There are some companies with government contracts, that haul hazmat and things above that like military weaponry, that have the ability to not only monitor truck location, but actually get readouts of truck conditions like coolant temps, oil pressures, and other things. Tri State Motor Transport, green trucks with TSMT on them, does a lot of military hauls and has this capability. Not in every truck they have, since there isn't that heavy a need for it, but they do have it in some of their trucks. And along with those capabilities comes the ability to disable the truck enroute. It's done safely, with warning systems informing the driver of the impending shutdown to allow him a time to park the truck, but they do have remote shutoff capabilities, as well as monitoring and tracking capabilities.

 

Some shippers require QualComms in the trucks. An example is in the automotive end. GM, Ford, Chrysler, all require their carriers to be able to track their shipments on JIT deliveries. If an owner operator signs on with a company that has a contract with GM Ford or Chrysler his truck has to be equipped with satellite communication before he can haul their freight. A lot of the major chemical companies also have the same requirements to haul their freight. I pulled chemical tankers before QualComm and some of the Dow Chemical and Dupont loads we had to make check calls 2 or 3 times a day.

 

A grocery store chain in NC lost a truck and driver a while back. Normal searches ground and air turned up nothing along the route the driver would have taken. Now, thanks to modern science---All of the companies trucks were painted the same color with the same paint. Some sort of device used I guess by law enforcement was set or programmed to detect only that type of paint. Using this device(what ever it is) in another air search, the truck and driver was found off a road in GA. The driver had a heart attack and left no skid marks where he left the road. The truck traveled so far from the pavement that it was completely covered with thick undergrowth and would perhaps never have been seen if not for that amazing device!

Pappy