Published: Tuesday, November 12, 2024
By Brian J. Riker
While I believe the best safety system in any vehicle is an alert, attentive, qualified, and well-trained driver, finding excellent drivers is becoming harder and harder. With the exponential rise in personal injury attorneys targeting the transportation industry and record-high jury awards, the need for every possible safety measure has become clear.
Large trucking company fleets have long advocated for safety management systems on commercial vehicles. They are promoting these measures more to level the playing field in driver recruitment than out of a genuine need for safety; however, they have caught the attention of trial attorneys and are now a focal point in many trucking court cases.
The thought process is that if the truck owner did not take every available opportunity to provide technology to reduce the risk of a crash, they are not truly committed to being safe and deserve to be punished. Trial lawyers have become particularly good at empowering juries to make a social statement or to “correct” a perceived injustice and hold “greedy” corporations accountable. While I am not advocating for a lawless society or allowing those responsible for horrible injuries to walk away without penalty, we must take a commonsense approach to this as trucking is not a one size fits all type of industry.
From the absence of collision avoidance and automatic braking systems to the failure to make certain seats standard equipment, truck owners and manufacturers have faced liability for injuries that might not have been their responsibility otherwise. In a 2023 study by Motive, a leading provider of dash cameras and other telematic devices, found that 40% of all commercial truck fleets are under invested in even basic safety systems for their fleets.
What about towing? Operating a tow truck may seem like something unique and special, and it is, but fundamentally tow trucks are commercial motor vehicles and subject to the same rules and regulations as any other commercial vehicle. Litigation against tow truck operators for motor vehicle crashes is on the rise and the industry needs to take action to protect themselves. This surge in litigation not only drives up insurance costs but also threatens everything you have worked for—and it’s not just owners at risk. Drivers are losing their homes, retirement savings, and other assets as a result of the accidents they’re involved in.
I’m not going to prescribe the five must-have safety systems for your tow truck, as each fleet and operation is unique; however, I encourage you to explore these options and assess whether they could make a difference for your fleet.
The one exception is that I will say everyone should have a good dash camera that includes tracking of the vehicle and inward (driver) facing views using A.I. to scan for distractions and policy violations. I believe in these so much I have them in all my personal vehicles and even travel with one to install using a suction cup in rental cars and other vehicles I drive on a temporary basis.
Telematics that provide reports on speeding, hard braking, sharp turns, and other driver behavior issues are the next most important piece of safety equipment; however if you have these reports then you must also take corrective action. Knowing about bad behaviors and not moving to correct them is worse than not knowing about them at all.
Other options when ordering a new truck could include lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, computer settings that do things like automatically turn on headlights with wipers or disable cruise control in the rain and upgraded brakes. Today there is no reason to have drum brakes on anything. Disc brakes are the way to go.
I caution against unilateral adoption of systems like automatic emergency braking because the dynamics of towing do not make for a very predictable braking action and automatic braking may cause more harm than good. Same with speed limiters. If you are going to use speed limiters look into variable or adaptive limiters that change based upon the posted speed limit and not a hard limit at an arbitrary number.
Lastly, the best safety system is still a fully trained and qualified operator. You invest in training such as rollovers, winching, and rigging so why not driver training focused on defensive driving? Afterall, your drivers spend 80% of their day behind the wheel and 20% doing the other stuff that most towers focus training on. It is time to train them as truck drivers.
Published: Wednesday, November 06, 2024
By Randall C. Resch
Providing tow and services on high-speed highways creates great hazards along the way. That’s something we’ve come to know in more than 108-years since the wrecker’s inception. It’s not that towers have plenty of danger to worry about, but have you ever considered the remote possibility of getting struck and killed by a tire and wheel that’s ejected from a car, truck or commercial vehicle?
Imagine being so “unlucky” to be struck by a six-hundred-pound bounding missile? No matter how safe you might work and at what speed your head is on that proverbial swivel, a loose semi tire and wheel is one that you’ll likely never see coming. The opening video (see link) depicts a loose tire that was milliseconds from slamming the front windshield of a vehicle in traffic.
The internet has plenty of incidents documenting a vehicle’s tire (and wheel) coming off an at-speed vehicle as they travel high-speed highways. A loose tire and wheel are capable of bounding through traffic, over a median’s K-Rail and into the windshield of unsuspecting motorists. If you’re a tow and service company conducting tire change services on high-speed highways, this narrative should be of interest to you.
It's Bound to Happen
Let this narrative serve as a safety reminder for tow companies who change tires on highway shoulders. While the prospect of being responsible for a loose tire and wheel isn’t a daily occurrence, tow owners should have an inkling as to what possibilities exist? According to “Inside Edition”, they stated as many as 1,500-people were killed by runaway tires and wheels in the last three years.
Because a bounding tire and wheel is nothing less than a rolling missile, consider the following scenarios that were the result of either mechanical failure or that of improper installation:
January 18, 1979, 52-year-old Julien Chabot, a tow operator in Bennington, Maine, was killed when the tire of a semi-trailer came off as he was assisting a motorist near Lewiston.
In California, the highway patrol fielded calls reporting a bouncing tire that slammed through the front of a school police officer's car. The CHP reported the tire likely came from a trailer traveling in southbound lanes. The tire bounced over the center median’s K-Rail and then planted in the window of a Los Angeles School Police Department’s vehicle. The tire destroyed the car’s windshield and embedded in the roof, nearly missing the officer, escaping what could have been an instant death.
In yet another incident, April 2019, a Maine state trooper was struck and killed by a loose tire and wheel, that came off a semi-truck. The trooper was legally parked on I-95’s shoulder near Bangor, assisting a motorist that had spun out in the rain when the tire and wheel bounded into where he was standing. In this incident, the semi-truck involved allegedly had equipment and inspection issues that resulted in later convictions.
Ignore the Possibility?
On the working end, conducting tire services requires tow operators or technicians to remove and replace a vehicle’s when by loosening and tightening the vehicle’s lug nuts. To prove a point; how many towers have attended formal schooling regarding the proper procedures in tire changes, most specifically, knowing the proper factory specifications” necessary to torque lug nuts? How can towers guarantee a vehicle’s lug nuts are tightened to manufacturer’s specifications if you’ve not attended formal schooling?
In today’s litigious society, when tires and wheels “self-eject” from vehicle hubs, there’s likely a mechanical malfunction, maintenance issue, or that of a technician’s installation error. When not properly tightened down according to manufacturer’s specs, lug nuts may not be sufficiently tightened to keep a tire on the vehicle causing it to eject. When these considerations are accurate, the deadly duo makes their way into the front windshield of a non-suspecting motorist’s car.
Regardless as to what motor club you’re providing services for, your contract typically makes you the vendor, where you assume liability of whatever actions occur under your tow business and its employees. In the event a loose tire and wheel injures or kills a motorist or pedestrian, will “they” (the motor club) represent (and could be held financially liable) for whatever actions that took someone else’s life?
This topic is a discussion you should have with your corporate attorney? For my sanity and business accountability, it’s my choice to not change tires on the highway noting more than 50-tow operators killed providing tire change services dating back to the 1940’s. In the best interest of your operator’s safety and survival, I recommend no tire changes are conducted on the highways to decrease the potential of becoming a tow industry statistic.
Who’s Getting Blamed?
To increase better odds of not having a tire and wheel come loose due to improper tightening of wheel lugs, I recommend vehicles are towed, transported, or dollied to tire shops, service stations, or dealerships. Let the shops take the responsibility in getting lugs tightened to manufacturer specs.
In the same manner towers shouldn’t and don’t replace driveshafts removed from vehicle’s towed; the same or similar liability applies here. Call it what you may, the odds of this kind of “freak accident” are fifty-fifty. They’re not the odds I’m comfortable taking. Owners, consider what direction your personnel should take when it comes to conducting tire services?
Personally, I shan’t be blamed for not tightening wheel lugs to spec, more importantly, I’m highly adverse to being the victim of some tire and wheel dropping from the sky.
Operations Editor Randall C. Resch is a retired, veteran, California police officer, former tow business owner and industry advocate. As consultant and trainer, he authored and teaches tow truck operator safety courses approved by the California Highway Patrol. For 55-years, he has been involved in the towing and recovery industry. In 28-years, he has contributed more than 760-safety focused articles for American Towman Magazine, TowIndustryWeek.com and is a frequent seminar presenter and wrecker pageant judge at tow shows. In 2014, he was inducted to the International Towing and Recovery Industry Hall of Fame, was the 3rd recipient of the industry's "Dave Jones Leadership Award," and is a member of American Towman’s Safety Committee.
Email Randy at rreschran@gmail.com.
Published: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
By Brian J Riker
While I applaud towers for finding new revenue streams, and moving forklifts or other industrial equipment is one of those streams, it is critical to understand what you are doing and how to do it safely. Recently I have noticed a trend of moving forklifts with light duty rollbacks, and I’m not talking class 6 trucks like Freightliners, Internationals or Hinos, but rather, Ram 4500 and 5500, Ford 450 and 550 size trucks.
This is dangerous, often illegal and just plain dumb to do!
Let’s start with the basics. The average forklift weights around 9,000 pounds with some as light as 3,000 and many well over 10,000 pounds. While these weights sound similar to the average car or light truck, the weight is concentrated differently than a car or truck as is the center of gravity.
A typical class 5 chassis, meaning a Ram 4500, 5500, Ford F-450, F-550, etc., has a gross vehicle weight rating between 16,001 and 19,500 pounds. This is the maximum that the truck chassis, any body mounted on it, tools, driver, fuel and cargo carried can weight to be within the manufacturer’s design specs and to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. When built into a typical rollback, these class 5 vehicles have a tare (empty) weight around 12-13,000 pounds. This gives them an average payload (cargo) capacity of between 3,000 and 6,500 pounds.
So, with an average payload of 6,500 pounds as a best-case scenario, using say a 5500/550 chassis and a lightweight carrier body, one would expect to be able to load an average car or light truck and maybe even a small forklift. Not so fast!
Load distribution is critical. Yes, the typical light duty carrier deck has a capacity rating of 10,000 to 12,000 pounds; however this is measured as an evenly distributed load across the entire surface of the deck, not concentrated in a tiny spot as found with a forklift. Anyone that does heavy haul will know their trailers have an overall maximum weight rating and then a separate rating for concentrated loads expressed in either psi or pounds in any ten-foot area of the trailer deck. Light duty carriers do not have this rating as they are not intended to haul concentrated loads.
What all this means is with a class 5 chassis and a typical carrier deck, you are overloading your equipment beyond its intended use and failure will happen. Probably not immediately, but down the line, often when least expected, a component will fail (often with much lesser force than its designed capacity due to fatigue).
What about class 6 chassis, they are much bigger, so they are safer, right?
Again, not really. Even though a class 6 chassis will have a greater payload capacity, often with an average of 8,500 pounds, this doesn’t mean hauling a forklift is any safer. These trucks are built using the same carrier subframe and deck as the class 5 trucks, so the limiting factor is the design and intended use of the carrier deck more than the chassis, at least with forklifts at or under approximately 8,000 pounds.
The proper chassis for moving forklifts is a class 7 or 8 chassis, with at least a 33,000 GVWR and an industrial carrier deck designed for concentrated loads.
How about securing them, what should I do?
First and foremost, your winch is not a securement device, and likely it isn’t even rated for winching a forklift onto your carrier’s deck unless you have an industrial carrier or larger than standard winch. Remember, your winch is rated for maximum pull on the first layer of wire rope, and the average light duty carrier’s winch only has a rope rated for 4,300 pounds. Once you start up the angle of your deck with an 8,000+ pound forklift you add an angle multiplier that far exceeds the rating of your winch and wire rope.
Driving a forklift on and off a carrier is also risky business. Besides OSHA requirements that you be trained on the use of each specific type of powered industrial truck, your smooth deck surface and the smooth tires found on most indoor forklifts do not make for a safe, high traction environment. If you are going to transport forklifts with a smooth surface deck, dock to dock is the only acceptable way to go as you are remaining level while loading and unloading. And do not use your wheel lift as a dock leveler to bring your deck up to dock height unless it is specifically designed to be used as such, otherwise you are stressing the carrier mounting point at the rear of your truck frame.
Lastly, never load forks toward the cab, but always have the forks facing the rear of your truck. If you were to get into a crash or even just have a hard brake event and the tie-downs failed, those forks will pierce your headboard and cab like a hot knife through butter.
Always follow the US DOT regulations related to the number and types of tie-downs, and no, over the wheel type straps are not intended to be used on forklifts nor are J-hooks or the hook clusters found on your automotive tie-downs. Use the proper type and rated hook, manufacturer’s recommended hook points (on both the forklift and your deck) and proper sized chains, ratchets or binders. Tie down low to prevent tipping over, using an X pattern that secures all four corners and do not use the roll cage as a tie-down point.