Bulk trucking of commodities isn’t a sexy topic, but it is how stuff gets to market, whether it is orange trucks taking fruit out of orange groves in central Florida or coal trucks working their way down mountains in Kentucky and Tennessee. However, the flatlands of central Florida are a lot easier to ship freight through than Appalachian mountains.
A coal truck crashed in Tennessee last October going down a mountainous road; a U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration report found that the truck was both overloaded and had its engine brake disabled; the trucker was going too fast, but the lack of engine brakes didn’t help matters. Engine brakes are noisy, so many towns ban their use, but they help slow a truck down in a pinch. However, the lack of a “Jake brake” (the Jacobs Company is the leading maker) may have been the difference between keeping the truck upright and having it overturn.
Both the mining company and the trucking company were fined for safety violations; one of the reasons why the DOT is so hawkish on weight issues is that trucking loads are harder to handle when they are overloaded. Having spent some time near the coal-mining areas of Kentucky, I experienced some of those winding roads and would not want to be driving an overloaded truck on those roads.
The effort to achieve cheap freight costs has its side effects, and in this case, the loss of life is one of those side effects.
Sources:http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/feb/04/t…y-brake-switch/
http://www.essortment.com/all/jakebraketruck_raio.htm
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