Secure that pipe load!

I just heard about this from a fellow flatbedder today. The link to the article doesn't work well, so I will write it out:

FATAL ACCIDENT OCCURRED WHEN DRIVER COULDN'T NEGOTIATE TURN

Abrupt stop from sand build-up resulted in load of pipe shifting forward into cab area

An Odessa man was killed in a Friday afternoon crash after a load of pipes his semi-tractor was hauling on a semi-trailer went through the cab area following an abrupt stop off the roadway, according to the investigating Texas Department Department of Public Safety trooper.

Thirty two year old Troy Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene of the 4:00 pm accident on State Highway 128 (Jal Highway).

The wreck occurred about 17 miles west of Jal in Andrews county when Gonzalez failed to negotiate a curve and the 2006 International truck towing a semi-trailer with a pipe load left the roadway.

"Soft sand started to build up under the bumper and tires", DPS Trooper Dylan Burke explained. "That's what caused him to stop so abruptly and shift the load of pipes into the cab. It was a pretty quick stop after the sand started building up."

Burke said the Texas Department of Transportation will determine whether the pipe load was secured properly.

I run pipe loads frequently. There's no such thing as a "no click" load of pipe, meaning you ALWAYS need to stop frequently to retighten your straps. Pipe tends to shift together as you shake down rough roads. This might be a case where the driver already checked the load once, but that NM 128 is a rough road. It could simply be a matter of he needed to stop again and was hoping to get a few miles more to a safe place to stop.

Running fast with pipe is inherently dangerous. I treat it the same as when I pull a smooth bore tanker with hazmat. Lots of following distance and keep it nice, easy, and slow in the curves.

 

Absolutely true. Oilfield drivers are notorious for some dangerous driving habits. That goes ten fold in the Permian. I've run three loads down past Jal and Carlsbad in the last two weeks. That section of the 128 is particularly bad. They need to make that a four lane highway or create alternate passing zones as a three lane highway. Getting stuck behind a 55 mph governed crane or 60 mph gorilla pump with dozens of other trucks and pickups is a recipe for head on collisions.

 

@Bud A. I will comment about the "too many trucks" part of your post. It's been going absolutely nuts in the oil field in general and the Permian (west Texas and SE New Mexico) in particular this year. Absolutely nuts.

The USA became the largest oil producer this year for the first time in almost 100 years. That's all because of fracking (hydraulic fracturing).

Two weeks ago I was sitting at an oil rig SE of Jal, NM at night in the middle of nowhere. The sky was lit up. I counted over two dozen oil rigs and dozens of fracking operations, refineries, and other facilities with kleig lights within my sight.

It was eerie. With my engine turned off the flares that burn off the excess methane and natural gas would all light up over a couple square miles, then all suddenly die off, only to flare up intensely again. It was like being parked on the back of a monsterous dragon.

 

I'm going to comment about pipe load securement. They can be a #####.

No matter if you jump on all your winches and get all your straps singing in a high C, they WILL become loose. Many a time I pick up a load of pipe and do that first load check within the first 15 miles and EVERY strap needs some serious attention. Pipe will start to shift together. That tight strap becomes loose as they shift together.

On a long haul with pipe it generally takes three or four load checks before I don't have to tighten a strap. The pipes can begin the trip up against the pipe pins, but after retightening several times the load on every layer is inches away from the pins.

If I look in the rear view mirror and see any bit of flapping straps, that's an automatic need to pull over and retighten the load. I can't count the number of times I have passed or been passed by a driver hauling a load of pipe with his straps flailing away in the wind with at least six inches of slack.

Look. In. Your. ####ing. Mirrors

 

Yeah, then get off road in that horrendous caliche road surface, where 10 mph will break your back. Start counting truck parts laying on or beside the road. Bumpers. Brake cans. Radiators. Drive shafts.

Yep. Drive shafts. Plural.