Dump trucks on the freeway!

[rhuarc29]

I've received two cracked windshields (a third now stands chipped) and numerous dents and scratches on my car thanks to dump trucks on the 401/QEW. It's a fucking minefield behind them with stones bouncing every which way and cars speeding up trying to get around the devastation, while others for some reason hang back getting pelted as if that's going to help at all. Isn't there a proper way to secure their loads so they don't cause so much damage?

Can you actually go after them for compensation? Or is that just a waste of time?


I feel sorry for anyone approaching a dump truck from behind on their motorcycle....

 

[newfie]

You can go after them but you would have to prove that the rock came from the load and not from being flicked up from the road. Unless you have video it would be impossible to prove. I drive a truck too and dump trucks are the worst things on the road.

 

[thumper18474]

You would need to have the evidence..I.e the stone/projectile that caused the damage
OPP would charge them with having an unsecured load and MTO can haul them in for a safety inspection..

 

[nobody123]

Had a chunk of concrete big as my head fall out of the back of an oncoming pickup truck and dent my rear quarter panel just last week on hwy 7. Scared the everloving fuck out of me to watch this thing bounce and fly at me (in subjective slow motion).

 

[thumper18474]

Got called to an incident a few weeks ago..tractor trailer Lost his rear drive tires on the tractor..not just the rubber..but the hub too...thats a 700 lb. uncontrolled projectile going down the highway faster than the truck it was on.....less friction means higher speed!
bounced over the jersey wall and clipped an SUV...and wound up taking out an electrical box..

 

[rhuarc29]

You would need to have the evidence..I.e the stone/projectile that caused the damage

LOL

That's pretty much an impossibility. I'm not talking about huge chunks of granite here. More like stones the size of golf balls bouncing all over the road and impacting my vehicle at high enough speeds to cause damage.

Best I can think of is to get video footage; but that's far from a sure fire why to deal with it.

 

[slider2]

It doesn't matter what evidence you have...you could have a video of the entire thing. At the end of the day, there is No Fault insurance in Ontario. The process is that each party calls their own insurance company and that ins co pays out their own insureds cost (unless there is bodily injury in which costs, costs can be transferable between insurance companies)

 

[james t kirk]

All trucks are menaces on the highway.

Half of them are beyond unsafe and the other half are being piloted by guys who are falling asleep.

Whenever I'm on the highway and coming up on a truck, I just want to get past him so when he loses it, he won't cream me. (And I've had tucks come within an inch of wiping me out on a couple of occasions.

As to recovering your costs, it would be easier to go to the moon.

 

[newfie]

....

 

[manni]

Biggest pet peeve is when trucks are in like 3 of the 4 lanes on the highway and all driving side by side. Fkkk just stick to the right most lane

 

[GPIDEAL]

Had a chunk of concrete big as my head fall out of the back of an oncoming pickup truck and dent my rear quarter panel just last week on hwy 7. Scared the everloving fuck out of me to watch this thing bounce and fly at me (in subjective slow motion).

That's like being in a sci-fi or horror movie.

I think the answer is that we should all have dash cams to catch these fuckers (but I now defer to the no-fault insurance comment made by an astute Terbite above).

I've had a few windshield chips too, but had to replace a cracked windshield driving home from on the 400 once.

Fucking dump trucks don't clean their shit.

 

[thumper18474]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but how can the tire pick up speed after coming off the truck? Unless the tire was going downhill, the tire would slow down every time it contacted the road. There would have to be an outside force acting on it. That doesn't make it any less of a hazard but it couldn't just accelerate on its own.

An example would be someone jumping out of a moving car. Their exit speed would be exactly the same as the vehicle they were travelling in, but they would slow down, not speed up, every time they hit the road.

Less friction would mean that the object would not lose inertia as readily, it would not make the object go faster.

When the tire is on the truck..it is being held in place along with the rim and hub.obviously...
takeaway the restrictions and the wheel is free ...trust me anything forcefully held in place will pick up speed when all those restrictions holding it back are removed...I've seen many a safety video where as the wheel and rim come free and actually passes the vehicle it came off of...this will usually happen when the brakes are applied and the wheel nuts snap/shear..not to mention the weight of the load factors into it
example.....on a truck and trailer rolling with 52 tonne on its axles force of the load is pushing down the wheel keeping them tight to the road...remove the weight wheels roll easier....and pick up speed..

 

[benstt]

More likely the truck is braking or slowing down, and the tire passes it. It looks like the tire accelerates, but more likely the force that hit the vehicle to dislodge the tire actually slows the vehicle relative to the free tire. Or the vehicle has more drag cause it has lost a wheel.

This is on level ground - downhill would be different.

 

[james t kirk]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but how can the tire pick up speed after coming off the truck? Unless the tire was going downhill, the tire would slow down every time it contacted the road. There would have to be an outside force acting on it. That doesn't make it any less of a hazard but it couldn't just accelerate on its own.

An example would be someone jumping out of a moving car. Their exit speed would be exactly the same as the vehicle they were travelling in, but they would slow down, not speed up, every time they hit the road.

Less friction would mean that the object would not lose inertia as readily, it would not make the object go faster.

Oh, it would go faster, a lot faster.

A truck wheel pushing a heavy truck has a huge amount of potential energy in it (required to push the the mass of the truck)

Remove that heavy weight opposing the movement of the wheel and all that potential energy is converted (rather instantaneously) to kinetic energy and then look the fuck out.

PE = KE

PE = huge energy required to move a truck

KE = 0.5mV^2, where m is the mass of the wheel.

Solve for V

V^2 =(2 x huge energy) /m

V = (2 x huge energy) / m)^0.5

 

[herbnessman]

Oh, it would go faster, a lot faster.

A truck wheel pushing a heavy truck has a huge amount of potential energy in it (required to push the the mass of the truck)

Remove that heavy weight opposing the movement of the wheel and all that potential energy is converted (rather instantaneously) to kinetic energy and then look the fuck out.

PE = KE

PE = huge energy required to move a truck

KE = 0.5mV^2, where m is the mass of the wheel.

Solve for V

V^2 =(2 x huge energy) /m

V = (2 x huge energy) / m)^0.5

 

[outlander]

All trucks are menaces on the highway.

Half of them are beyond unsafe and the other half are being piloted by guys who are falling asleep.

That has to be the dumbest statement I've heard in a while!

 

[nobody123]

All trucks are menaces on the highway.

Half of them are beyond unsafe and the other half are being piloted by guys who are falling asleep.

Whenever I'm on the highway and coming up on a truck, I just want to get past him so when he loses it, he won't cream me. (And I've had tucks come within an inch of wiping me out on a couple of occasions.

As to recovering your costs, it would be easier to go to the moon.

That has to be the dumbest statement I've heard in a while!

You're right. That's very unscientific. I'm sure there's some crossover: some of the ones that are unsafe are being piloted by guys who are falling asleep. hmmm... for some reason, I'm still not feelin' all filled with reassurance here.

 

[outlander]

You're still making assumptions.

That would be like me saying that all SPs on here are pimped out or on drugs. Or maybe there is some crossover and some are on drugs while being pimped out.

I'll agree that there is some bad apples in the bunch who cut corners and drive trucks that might be unsafe. The majority of 18 wheelers you see are very safe and operated by professionals. Trucks get pulled in for random mechanical/ weight inspections of the truck/trailer. Companies who operate these trucks can't afford to have junk rolling down the highways. The fines alone would kill them. They can also have their operating licence pulled. On top of that you're pissing of your customers. If a truck gets put Out Of Service at an inspection/weigh station, it means delays in freight delivery. Which equals unhappy customers.

But you guys are the experts!

 

[benstt]

Oh, it would go faster, a lot faster.

A truck wheel pushing a heavy truck has a huge amount of potential energy in it (required to push the the mass of the truck)

Remove that heavy weight opposing the movement of the wheel and all that potential energy is converted (rather instantaneously) to kinetic energy and then look the fuck out.

PE = KE

PE = huge energy required to move a truck

KE = 0.5mV^2, where m is the mass of the wheel.

Solve for V

V^2 =(2 x huge energy) /m

V = (2 x huge energy) / m)^0.5

The potential energy comes from the drive train, which i assume it is also disconnected from. The wheel itself has no force causing it to accelerate.

 

[thumper18474]

You're still making assumptions.

That would be like me saying that all SPs on here are pimped out or on drugs. Or maybe there is some crossover and some are on drugs while being pimped out.

I'll agree that there is some bad apples in the bunch who cut corners and drive trucks that might be unsafe. The majority of 18 wheelers you see are very safe and operated by professionals. Trucks get pulled in for random mechanical/ weight inspections of the truck/trailer. Companies who operate these trucks can't afford to have junk rolling down the highways. The fines alone would kill them. They can also have their operating licence pulled. On top of that you're pissing of your customers. If a truck gets put Out Of Service at an inspection/weigh station, it means delays in freight delivery. Which equals unhappy customers.

But you guys are the experts!

we have MTO enforcement officers out on the highway 24/7 now..and they can and will pull over and inspect ANY commercial vehicle they want/feel is in violation of the HTA...they even have portable scales to see if they are over-weight on the Axles.

Most of the issues I see is from overloading...you should know the feel of an overweight truck...it is blatantly sluggish and doesnt handle right...but here you have trucks with sometimes 6 tonne over the maximum weight allowed!!it puts a strain on the brakes...Axles Hit the brakes and the strain will blow the bags right off it! and when your brakes go and lock up your wheels...good luck!

The springs inside those Bags are deadly projectiles!