Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Query For Long-haul Truckers

We put about 30,000 miles each year on our primary vehicle and another 10,000 to 14,000 on a secondary vehicle. Since we live in the middle of nowhere and our kids and grandkids are mostly in other states, the bulk of that mileage is on highways, primarily Interstate Highways. Prior to abut 4-5 years ago, we had seen only only a handful of wrecks that we can remember in which a cargo trailer had burned up.

We both had appointments with our ophthalmologist in Las Cruces today, and passed a burned-out cargo trailer on the paved shoulder.That was the fifth one this year for me, on a 94-mile stretch of I-10. Two of those were still hitched to the tractor which showed no signs of have been on fire, but the other three looked as though the driver had just pulled off on the shoulder and cut the trailer loose--a perfectly understandable move under the circumstances. I can think of at least a couple of other such accidents in the last year or two on I-25 between Las Cruces and Albuquerque.

Is there some reason that these incidents have become much more common in the last few years? My wife tends to attribute it to changes in the rules that now permit tractor-trailer units licensed in Mexico to run on our interstate highways. Any informed opinions are welcomed.

May have something to do the quantity of lithium batteries moving about now days?

It's been a lot of years, but I owned and operated a 24 hour diesel shop and road repair service in California for a while. I saw enough burned-down wheel bearings that I started keeping a representative stock of bearings and grease seals on my truck to service probably 90% of all the cargo trailers on the road at that time. With only 5 or 6 trailer axle manufacturers out there. that was not terribly difficult to do. Now, what does that have to do with fires, you ask?

Here's what happens, quite frequently. The more cargo a rig can haul, the better the payday is going to be. If a trucker can figure out how to run an overload and get around the various scales he has to pass, he can sometimes double his money on occasion. The truck scales at Wheeler Ridge on the north side of the Grapevine Hill usually closed down at midnight on Sundays for routine maintenance, and stayed closed for about 6 hours. A bunch of truckers would wait at Milt's Truck Stop in Bakersfield until somebody on the CB radio would announce "The chicken coop is closed!" Then the guys with the double-stacked payloads would head south. If the wheel bearings didn't fail, 90,000 pounds of cargo instead of the usual 45,000 made it to Los Angeles.

Since my shop was about 300 miles north of Grapevine, Sunday afternoons got really busy - - - - -fixing really heavy trucks with burned-out wheel bearings. Once a bearing fails, the brake drum drags on the shoes, the drum starts smoking and gets red hot, and if the driver doesn't notice the problem quickly, the bearing grease, and then the tires catch fire. Once the tires light off, grab the marshmallows- - - -the fire's not getting put out anytime soon! Overloaded, poorly maintained Mexican trucks probably have more problems than the ones I was working on 40 years ago.
Jerry

The first thing that comes to mind is that drivers don’t have the CB on any more. Even 10 years ago, if a trailer was smoking brakes, we’d be on the CB, letting the driver know he had a problem. Then there’d be five or six trucks pulled over with all the drivers running with fire extinguishers in hand.

Add to that the fact that the modern trucks are more powerful and most of them run at very similar speeds. there’s not many trucks passing each other like before, so we’re not seeing as many trailers in passing as we used to, to begin with.

I had a mechanic forget to put the lock pin in the bearing nut once.
Fortunately there was road construction going up a big hill.
One lane, the car behind me was inpatient, and I was watching him,
weaving side to side. Noticed it was foggy on one side.
Top of hill, I was able to pill over.

Bearings had departed, wheel hub was riding the axle, gear oil
was on fire. Lucky, the extinguisher put it out.

I was loaded with 7100 gallons of diesel.
That would have made an interesting fire!

Also, it was at the top of a big hill, with with a decent s-turn at 70mph
at the bottom. Losing that set of wheels could have been darn
interesting also.

Mechanic patched it roadside. Brakes inoperable.
I ask him to adjust the others, so they were good.

"We'll get 'em at the shop buddy".
Jumped in the truck and took off!

WTH only 30 miles to go!

Dutch,

Somehow I overlooked your post.
100%

Things sure have changed.
And overall, the quality of the drivers has dropped.
Terribly!


Drivers used to be farm boys and gearheads
Good old boys who looked out for each other.
Now, it's just some dude who needs a job.

Outfit I was driving for had a guy burn up a tractor last year coming down the west side of Donner. Classic dumphucqkery riding the brakes plain and simple. I would not commit to conclusions based upon casual observations of numbers seen though... Lots of rigs out there.

Some of the other guys know a lot more but the prices offered now really sucks. There has to be guys running hard with poor equipment to compete.

Many would not understand English, especially American English, if they did have a CB so one could let them know their tire was on fire.

Not much of the courtesy of flashing headlights to let one know it was safe to get back in while passing either. Or using turnouts when their more than 5 vehicles behind them on a 2 lane.

But, I'm just old and grumpy anyway.

Geno

"Overloaded, poorly maintained" is not unusual, especially if there is an economic benefit, and it happens all over the world. The majority of those photos of overloaded trains, trucks, cars, bikes are in other countries, but not all. And, yes, again, lots of Mexican trucks are on our highways now, some without professional drivers and many with looming maintenance problems.

The real test here in the USA is a hefty load on a 6 or 7% downhill grade, especially if the driver is inexperienced in mountainous driving. As Hotrod mentioned, the brakes get WAY too hot. They start to smoke, lose effectiveness and then they fail. Spectacularly. Our Volunteer department goes on LOTS of smoking brake calls, due to the steep and winding highway through our district. These turn into fires quickly, . Not everybody gets to coast to a stop. And not everybody gets out alive. The presence of the signs, indicating "Runaway truck ramp, 1 mile", should suggest a true warning signal. "This is a steep, treacherous road. Slow down."

I have no theory about the straight and level stretch west of Las Cruces on I-10, or the relatively good part of I-25 leading from LCX to ABQ, but a legitimate professional trucker, with a legal load and properly maintained truck and trailer, is still subject to the routine wear and tear on him/her and the vehicle. It seems like there are more semis on the road than ever before. Parts wear out, drivers get tired, deadlines loom. . we hope that the drivers and cargo will be OK. About ten years ago my wife and I witnessed a tragedy that unfolded near Desert Center CA when a moving van caught fire, destroying the belongings of several families, and shutting down all lanes of I-10 while the local department battled the incredible blaze. What a mess! But, everyone was safe and all the delay was just an inconvenience, other than for the families who lost their furniture, housewares and keepsakes in the inferno.

I see burned out farms and ranch homes in my travels, just the chimney and foundation left as silent sentinels to the conflagration that devastated a family, their home and their possessions. I say a prayer, hoping they got out OK, wondering what happened. Not many answers out there.

Cell phone. Without a doubt 10,000% I've drove for 20 years. This year my company created a million dollar training program for drivers. In the classroom portion they said since the beginning of horseless carriage speed was the #1 killer in vehicles. In less that 10 years cell phones/distracted driving doubled speed deaths since 2000. No $hit DOUBLED speed for deaths. Buddy was hauling 9000 gallons of HCL when a young woman slammed into the back of him. Said he got out and told her "Your [bleep] lucky they make those bumpers so strong our you would be goo on the highway". She told him she was texting when she slammed into his trailer. I'm not joking 80+% of cars the driver has the cell phone on their lap or holding it. Put your god damn cell phones down

I wonder how many fires are started by friction between the note, and the bank statement?

Autonomous Semi's don't use cell phones and they are never distracted.

Thanks for posting this Ben...

if nothing else a few posters in the know, gave an insight to me of what I have to deal with on my travels up and down I 5...

where we deal with Indians, Pakistanis, and a host of other Asian Immigrants from Canada driving trucks on I 5..
and then from the south northbound, we have inexperienced foreigners from about every country that speaks Spanish, driving I 5 north bound....

also plenty of women Truck drivers....

the good old all American Truck Driver Professional from the past, is just about a ghost legend at best nowadays...

and courtesy is gone off our highways from most of these truckers anymore...they seem to be just out for number one..

had one decide to screw with me on I 5 coming north out of LA two days before Christmas...

6 lanes of traffic, right two lanes are truck only lanes, which means they can't use the other 4.. but cars aren't prohibited from using the right lane...I drive in CA traffic, I use the right lanes and stay with the slower traffic fllow...

some trucker evidently didn't like that.. got on my ass while I was doing 65 mph... rode my rear bumper within a couple of feet and had his high beams and a bunch of driving lights all lite up... downhill....

pulled in the right lane, and he follows me, pull into the third lane, he follows me... I pull further over and he goes ahead finally..

I pull back to the second land, soon I find myself behind him....he slams on his brakes from 70 down to 30 mph instantly...

several times in other lanes... then tries to smack me with his rear tires while I change lanes to go around him...

finally took an exit off and let him go... wait 10 minutes... end up coming across him again on the Grapevine... and he starts this crap all over again....

Took his truck number and info, and called his company's safety division.. don't know if they will do anything about it, but they took the info...

wasn't a foreign driven truck.. actually a company out of Iowa.. which surprised me... maybe they are hiring Somalians back there...

Female truck drivers are substantially cheaper to insure because they have significantly lower loss records.

Up here its the east indians who cause many/most of the accidents, don't know where they get the experience to get the licence, but speaking english would help alot.
So I go up to a trucker and tell him, hey dude your back tire is on fire, he looked at me and walked into the store to get a coffee or whatever, I just got in my truck and drove away.

When a driver is being an azzole with 40 tons of truck and cargo, he needs to learn that tires are not bulletproof. When I was a trainee with a heavy haul wreck recovery service, the oldtimer who taught me the business had a very effective way of dealing with deflating tires on damaged wheels that were an explosion hazard to our crew- - - - -a 230 grain hardball made them flat tires in a hurry, and from a safe distance.
Jerry

Unfortunately driver training is expedited because of the demand to get them on the road. One of the largest carriers has a pipeline from the Twin Cities to here for driver recruits and many can't speak English. MADD was in part behind the driver hour changes and that hurt a lot of good drivers, now we need more drivers to cover the same freight. Unfortunately texting and driving is very rampant and I watched an accident caused by it in Houston.

Maintenance for most companies is kept to a bare minimum doing as little as the DOT requires to keep the trucks on the road.

I know drivers now only getting 1000 miles a week with all the sitting they have to do, when we used to run hard a 5k week was not uncommon.

Passing. A couple years ago, Idaho raised the freeway speed limit to 80 for cars and 70 for trucks. There are a LOT of trucks out there that can't pull even a low hill at 70 and it seems like many must still be governed at 65. Side by side trucks blocking both lanes for several miles while trying to pass is a major headache. There's a long steep one about between here and Boise that was particularly bad. A passing truck might cut the speed to 40 and have cars backed up for miles. They finally added a 3d lane last year just for trucks to cut down on traffic jams.

Back in the day a trucker took pride in his rig and the way he drove it. Unfortunately that's not always the case anymore.

Lot more trucks on the road too.