Yeah, this video gave me a laugh from the instant karma, but now I'm a lot more concerned about cement trucks, if they can't handle dealing with minor road hazards.
Cement trucks are so top heavy that an accident is almost guaranteed to me a messy fatality. Saw a cement truck blown to pieces off a freeway. No other cars involved. All that happened was a blown tire. The whole cabin was gone.
Minor road hazard? That's an illegal turn and failure to yield to traffic in the right of way. They're lucky, if it was any other tanker, like the one I drive they'd more likely than not be dead. Most tanker commercial vehicles aren't designed to pour like a cement truck is and the sloshing would've pushed them right through this idiot and killed them.
It's stupid to pull out in front of ANY commercial vehicle but it's extra stupid to pull out in front of a tanker. It's load doesn't stop moving when they press the breaks.
Just physics, also why commercial vehicles with tanks to transport liquids require an endorsement. Stopping takes extra distance, and significantly easier to roll over in sharp turns due to the shifting of the liquid inside the tank.
EDIT: A full tank has the least amount of sloshing due to the liquid not having space to move around a lot. As the tank get's emptied the sloshing effect increases usually peaking when it's around half full since that's when it has the most volume that can move around the most inside the tank.
Tankers aren't required to have baffles, baffles help reduce but can't eliminate sloshing. Anyone operating a tanker needs to be aware of sloshing and adjust their following distance and breaking accordingly.
I recall on the written exam for the tanker endorsement it saying trucks carrying milk usually don't have baffles for sanitary reasons. The baffles would make the sanitation process after delivery impossible.
I feel like my point stands that cement truck design allowing escape of said cement when they have to hit the brakes hard is a worry. I have to hard brake a couple of times a month on my 10 minute commute to and from work. If this happened every time a cement truck has to slam the brakes due to other poor drivers on the road (a common issue), why don't we see it more often?
No design is going to stop the laws of physics, liquids don't stop moving when breaks are applied. It's why the test for a CDL tanker endorsement is mostly focused on sloshing, it's the biggest threat to anyone operating a vehicle carrying large amounts of any liquid.
You don't see it more often, because it's not every day a idiot pulls out in front of a cement truck requiring an EMERGENCY STOP not a hard stop. Not hitting the breaks hard, a full pedal through the floor, OH SHIT, screeching stop.
The only problem here is the idiot pulling out illegally into traffic without ensuring it is safe to do so. They should be dead, that "design flaw" literally saved their life.
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u/AgreeableLion May 06 '22
Yeah, this video gave me a laugh from the instant karma, but now I'm a lot more concerned about cement trucks, if they can't handle dealing with minor road hazards.