What Happens When You Don’t Do A Brake Check In California

California isn’t the only state that requires a mandatory brake check at certain areas:
West Virginia-I-64 eastbound at Sandstone Mountain (under video surveillance)
North Carolina-I-40 eastbound near Old Fort (under video surveillance). A few years ago one of our trucks went into a ravine in a federal forest preserve after the driver didn’t stop as required at the brake check area.It was his inaugural trip with the company,hauling 40,000 of cole slaw in a (then) brand new reefer. He burned out the brakes and then bailed out of the truck before the truck went into the ravine. It took 5 wreckers to get the mess out.
Tennessee-I-24 eastbound-Monteagle Mountain(under video surveillance).

 

How? Do you measure stroke at every brake check area to make sure one set isn't making contact before the other three? I mean you personally. What would you personally have done at a brake check area that would have prevented this?

 

So you think the brake check area on the top of a mountain would majically fix this? No, dumba** went downhill way too fast, and rode the brakes.

 

I think the hope is that a driver might stop and check things out. Maybe smell the brakes or see smoke, at least give things a chance to cool.

By the time you get to that brake check area you have already come down a part of the hill.

 

FYI, I go down Monarch, Wolf Creek, Lookout, Fourth of July, Sonqualmie, etc very frequently. Been dpwn a few steep one in I think TN and WV too.

I've never stopped at a brake check. I also go down hills at speeds where jakes can hold me. Maybe 30mph, maybe 50. Depends on the load and the grade.

But i make it down these grades and never touch my brakes

 

All the check areas I see are at the top of the pass, never seen one on the grade.

Maybe different in the east though

 

Maybe,maybe not but it would’ve avoided some liability! The company paid dearly for that fiasco!
The driver should’ve known better,especially under a heavy load.
My first load was heavy too. 40,000 pounds of dog food to be precise but I arrived in one piece-and that was when I was working for Western Express!!

 

Stopping at brake check areas, Most I've been at have a map of whats ahead. Starting downhill from a stop, compared to downhill rolling at 55-70mph. This will help you keep a slower roll.
I always pull the trailer brake to check if they work. Tractor is not as easy to tell.. I do adjust them if I feel my brakes are weak. I usually check my brakes every time I get into a mountain range. If it's dry, usually in a rest area.

 

Right. Brake check areas are a holdover from the days before automatic slack adjusters.

Just like the weekly hour rule (now 70) was supposed to protect unionized trucking companies from more efficient non-union competitors back in the days when the ICC was setting fixed freight rates.

 

As the old saying goes: “All it takes is that one time!”