Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Trapped Under Trucks

propublica.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 241 posts

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#21

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #17

There's something I don't understand about this crash in particular: It sounds like Marcos' death is blamed on the actions of the truck driver, as well as the lack of an under-ride bumper. But don't we normally consider drivers responsible for crashing into objects towards which they're travelling? It doesn't sound like a situation where the truck jumped into traffic suddenly from a hidden driveway: > The truck edged…

I might see the truck edging out of a driveway and trust that they're going to properly yield right of way and not make themselves an obstacle. By the time I realize "my" mistake, I might not have enough distance to stop.

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#22

Post by bamfly »

milkytron wrote: post #16
rnga1dco wrote: post #10

As the article mentions, there is collaborative documentary that was produced with this story. You can watch it, and I think most FRONTLINE documentaries free on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyaWzOesXk

I watched this last night, and it's always interesting to people in business talk about the cost of saving lives. There was one point where the reporter was interviewing a guy from the ATA (American Trucking Associations) where the ATA person says that one lost life is too many. And this is very common across so many industries, safety first as they always say. But then as soon as you put a cost associated with savin…

> There was one point where the reporter was interviewing a guy from the ATA (American Trucking Associations) where the ATA person says that one lost life is too many.

You see the same crap inside companies. All-hands rah-rah meetings or zoom calls or mass emails with this kind of stuff in it, then the next day, directives to the contrary. Or, the handbook says to do X, for safety reasons, but your supervisor says to do Y that will be impossible to accomplish if you do X, like you're supposed to.

In union shops the workers often have leverage to point at the handbook, laws, or contract, and tell their supervisor to get fucked, but others just have to deal with it or find another job. Ditto non-safety stuff like violating the company's own policies on shift scheduling, or overtime wage-theft, or any number of other things.

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#23

Post by jffry »

jmclnx wrote: post #8

>An investigator with the local police department blamed the collision on the truck driver, who was initially charged with negligent homicide, though charges were eventually dropped I wonder why. Another issue is the size of trucks. The state where I lived: * Truck size was limited, large trucks were only allowed on one Highway. Goods were transferred to smaller Trucks for transport to factories. * Driving trucks on…

How is prohibiting truck transport on Sunday good for other road users? You'd be eliminating 14% of hours in the week, which means a corresponding higher density of trucks on non-Sunday days

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#24

Post by thedrbrian »

JimtheCoder wrote: post #3

I have always wondered why those trailers with the super low floors are not more popular... They look to be more aerodynamic, they can hold more stuff, and they would prevent the problems presented in the article. Maybe does it have to do with the fact that loading docks are already high, and this would make the loading process more cumbersome? I am not sure...

the other problem is tyres. we use super singles on our trucks and the tractors, trailers and rigids have the same size tyre.

385/65 R22.5

to have a flat floor on the trailer with the smaller tyres you've now got to stock another size of tyre or run dual tyres on the trailer.

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#25

Post by alexpotato »

milkytron wrote: post #16
rnga1dco wrote: post #10

As the article mentions, there is collaborative documentary that was produced with this story. You can watch it, and I think most FRONTLINE documentaries free on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyaWzOesXk

I watched this last night, and it's always interesting to people in business talk about the cost of saving lives. There was one point where the reporter was interviewing a guy from the ATA (American Trucking Associations) where the ATA person says that one lost life is too many. And this is very common across so many industries, safety first as they always say. But then as soon as you put a cost associated with savin…

> I watched this last night, and it's always interesting to people in business talk about the cost of saving lives.

My favorite example of this is the "children under 2 don't need their own airline seat". The idea was that if you required a separate seat, more people would drive. That in turn would lead to more fatalities as the fatality/mile in cars is so much higher than in planes.

I would also point out that if someone has purchased life insurance, they have explicitly made a decision about the cost of a life when they choose the amount of insurance they are willing to take on.

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#26

Post by JimtheCoder »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #19

I remember reading a claim that logistics companies will often tell their drivers to break traffic laws (ostensibly "only when it's not dangerous") and they consider any citations to be a cost of doing business. While I can't really verify that's true, it tracks with behavior I see of truck drivers in tight quarters; it's been trending towards this "I'm turning and I barely care if you're able to stop in time" kind o…

"I remember reading a claim that logistics companies will often tell their drivers to break traffic laws"

I don't think most drivers are waiting for permission from their superiors to break traffic laws...

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#27

Post by cracrecry »

As a European I see this kind of accident as a non issue because we use roundabouts. It is only important in the back of the truck.

The main bug is using so many square corners road junctions in the US. Those are super dangerous.

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#28

Post by RandallBrown »

Schnitz wrote: post #7

Europe has mandatory underride guards for this reason since 20+ years ago.

The US has them, but I think it's only on the rear of the trailer. A quick image search shows guards on the sides of European trailers, which would have been helpful in the crash from the article.

Re: Trapped Under Trucks

#29

Post by kazinator »

jmclnx wrote: post #8

>An investigator with the local police department blamed the collision on the truck driver, who was initially charged with negligent homicide, though charges were eventually dropped I wonder why. Another issue is the size of trucks. The state where I lived: * Truck size was limited, large trucks were only allowed on one Highway. Goods were transferred to smaller Trucks for transport to factories. * Driving trucks on…

> The truck edged out of a driveway and began, slowly, to turn left onto the road, blocking traffic in both directions. It was as if someone had erected a big steel wall.

I'm guessing that the charges were likely dropped because they couldn't prove that the truck suddenly entered a lane of traffic, having no right-of-way, and leaving the oncoming vehicle no time to stop.

Post reply on HN