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| This looks almost comical when we see this on the highway, but I can't tell you how much this is an invitation for a mega-disaster. If you ever see this especially on the highway where it has no business being, do everyone a favor before someone gets hurt and call the police to stop this from happening. |
HEY SERGEANT AL, I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU: I was on the highway this weekend and there was a open flatbed truck loaded with furniture loosely tied with a clothesline. The truck looked like a rolling mess. I sped up and went around him for fear of the furniture falling off the truck and onto my windshield. Was this driver breaking the law or just stupid? --VEHICLE OVERLOADED WITH NOTHING UNDERSIZED TOTALLY
DEAR VOW NUT: The driver was probably both in violation and plain stupid. This is a case where unless you were going 100 mph, I wouldn't even bother you on the road for speeding past him as the overloaded truck would have stood out to beg for traffic tickets instead. Whether it is a pickup or a tractor trailer, a truck with a dangling/unsecured load as you describe it is in violation of traffic rules/codes governing secured loads in/on a vehicle. If it were a heavy duty truck, the rules are more strict. In most states and jurisdictions, there are additional rules that pertain to motor carriers that generally follow the code of federal regulations (CFR49) governing motor carrier safety. These kind of laws usually require operators to ensure that their loads are properly secured before and during the entire trip, and usually requires them to check their loads periodically during the course of the trip. Some rules regarding loads are so specific that they require inspection at certain times and mileages during the route. In California as it is in most states for example, drivers of heavy duty trucks are required to inspect their vehicles after the first 25 miles of the trip (good idea in case the load shifts after you start) and then every three hours or 150 miles, whichever comes first. The load must be secured for every ten feet (at least) of cargo length.
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| These are the right and wrong ways loads should be secured on a truck. Regardless of what you observe on a truck, steer clear of them wherever possible, especially tankers, livestock, vehicle carriers, waste carriers, and any kind of widget carriers where loads can easily fall off or tip over. |
ATTENTION TRUCKERS: Cover your ass: I would properly load your equipment, thoroughly inspect your vehicle, TAKE TIMESTAMPED PICTURES, and document these inspections in your log book before and during the trip in case you find yourself in the middle of a calamity, especially if it is not your fault. If a tragedy occurs in which you are somehow held responsible, documenting these events can offset your culpability and may make a difference in you being charged for a vehicular crime, should someone get hurt or killed. Pay attention to shifting loads like any kind of liquids or livestock, or hanging items like meat or clothes. If a load extends off the back of a vehicle anywhere up to four or six feet or more, depending on the jurisdiction, you must attach and secure some kind of orange or green and/or florescent flag or marker, usually a foot square in size, to indicate an oversized/overextended load. If the load significantly overextends the vehicle length or width-wise, a carrier may have to apply for an overweight/oversized permit through the jurisdictions in which he is driving. If driving at night , a carrier must illuminate the overloaded rear end with lights on either side of the load. Loads that extend past the sight-line or load area of the vehicle height or lengthwise are supposed to be covered. To secure the load you can use bungee, rope, cord, tarp, blankets, or any proper equipment to hold and secure the load. Pay close attention to height clearances, in fact know what and where they are before starting the route.
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| SANFORD AND SON MEETS MCHALE'S NAVY: You might laugh at this, but this is a disaster waiting to happen: the equivalent of a guided missile with cluster bombs waiting to be deployed. Especially if you are in an open top convertible or off road vehicle, watch out for potential projectiles. |
What concerns me even more than the way this load was secured as you describe, is how you reacted driver-wise to such an unsafe hazardous condition. I hope you weren't driving too close behind. Next time make sure you either fall way back or preferably drive way on ahead of improperly/unsafe unsecured loads. Steer clear of such dangerous vehicles carrying these kinds of loads: you don't want to be anywhere behind them. Stay away from especially tank trucks, oil trucks, milk trucks, moving trucks/vans, and livestock trucks. Should the load give way, especially if you have a sunroof open, you are driving too closely behind, or worse: you are behind the overloaded vehicle while you're driving an open top convertible or an open off-road vehicle, you might be inviting disaster. A load that gives way is also inviting an entire shut-down of a roadway from spilling debris turned into projectiles. This is why I become dismayed when I see overloaded trucks on the highway because they really have no business being there: overloads belong on a local road route and not on a highway if possible. Unfortunately in this case an officer can't take action unless he sees the violation for himself, so I guess we're going to have to let this overload guy you saw go with a WARNING for ourselves: stay away from vehicles that don't have their rear ends secured, and don't be afraid to notify the police if you feel that a rear load is dangerously secured so that the police at the bare minimum can do an inspection to ensure no one on the road will get hurt from an overload!
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Thanks Sgt. Al for answering my question. Keep up the great blog for our fellow motorists.
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