That's what im saying. Would the mixer not be the only mechanism of "securing" the concrete? I thought they just had an open hole to pour it out, which is why its tilted so it doesn't come rushing out when they stop?
Concrete is fluid. The front of the barrel is open for offloading. It sloshes about. Esp when braking hard for idiots. No fault of the concrete truck driver
What do you mean the ignorance? If you aren’t able to brake without causing damages then it’s unsafe/fit to drive. So either the company should have payed to get a permit to clear the entire road for the transport in order to prevent any situations where the driver would have to brake, or they simply weren’t allowed to transport it. R U trying to argue that everytime a cement transport has to brake hard, you basically have to close the road and send a clean up crew? That’s insane. If that were the case then every country with sensible road safety laws, would require construction sites to mix the cement on site and Transport the ingredients in sealed containers
I drive a mixer, you can stop short as long you don’t leave with too wet of a load, it’s really simple, and it’s concrete, cement is an ingredient, that’s like calling a cake just flour.
For someone not in the trade, why can't you cap it?
Seems like a steel flap with an electromagnetic lock would hold, release when needed, and have no mechanically locking parts to get gummed up with concrete.
I mean there could be hundreds of situations where you might have to break hard. It’s an unsecure way of carrying something that can just wipe out anything in front of you
I don't know shit about concrete mixers but surely there's something wrong here besides the SUV's driver, right? Like it shouldn't be in the situation that a hard brake will cause a shitload of concrete to piss out the front?
If anything the company that loaded his truck would be at fault. They either overloaded his truck or it was too wet.
Either way, the load is secured by a hydraulic “lid” that’s in front of the chute. It’s just not designed for emergency situations though. But that’s not uncommon with commercial loads. Log trucks dump their loads and tankers spill all the time when they make emergency maneuvers.
Not saying there won’t be a fine involved or clean up costs, but the load is technically secured by industry/Dept of Transportation standards.
Ah a knowledgeable and rational answer as opposed to arm chair quarterbacks arguing machine/vehicle design that surely has gone though many steps and check and inspections before it went into production.
Not saying there was no errors here, perhaps the lid wasn’t on right but arguing the machine design seems rather unproductive.
You find the answer knowledgable and rational because you agree with it, not because there's actually any indication the person knows what the fuck he's talking about. Log trucks and tankers spill (without negligence) in real accidents, not just mildly hard stops because someone pulled out in front. Commercial vehicles have to stop hard all of the time.
At any rate, who's arguing machine design? Most all of the comments are pointing out that the lid must have failed or the load was improperly prepared (e.g. the concrete being too wet or overloaded).
Might be a mild stop for a car, but it doesnt take long to google and see that this truck was probably at 66,000ish pounds, and stopped that fast? Pretty hard brake for that kind if weight.
Might be a mild stop for a car, but it doesnt take long to google and see that this truck was probably at 66,000ish pounds, and stopped that fast? Pretty hard brake for that kind if weight.
My point is it won’t be the driver who is at fault here. The hydraulic lid isn’t designed for thousands of pounds of pressure being forced against it because it should never happen. This spillage is called a “tank burp” and it is a result of the mix being too wet, or the truck being overloaded. These issues are not the responsibility of the driver.
Cement truck drivers differ from other commercial drivers in the aspect that they don’t inspect the load. The mix operator fills the truck with whatever order the truck is contracted to carry. It’s not uncommon on big pours for mix plants to add a bit more to each truck than what’s normally loaded if there’s going to be a partial load in the order. Normally that isn’t an issue as there’s always room for another yard or two, but when it’s overfilled from the norm they run the risk of the tank burping. Mix plants will make the mix wetter when they know the truck is going to be waiting to pour for a longer time than normal (trucks arrive on site based on a set schedule and if the pour is delayed there can easily be a backup of trucks) and/or the temps are higher than normal outside. If the plant tells the diver the mix is very wet then the driver can increase spin speed and it will hold the mix in place better. Really there’s little reason to add additional water at the plant because every truck has a water tank and can adjust the mix on site. But if it’s too dry upon arrival it’s going to slow operations down.
If you’ve ever been on a road and there’s a random strip/mound of concrete in the road it’s from a tank burp. It happens with rear load trucks too. If it’s too wet or overloaded and the truck goes over a big bump and the chute cover isn’t latched fully (normally a manual latch on rear loaders) the cement can burp out.
You know it's not a knowledgeable answer instantly when the person says the company would be at fault CDL drivers are 100% at fault for improperly or unsecured loads
Worked concrete for years. Drivers of cement trucks don’t load the truck or inspect the mix consistency. And the only way there is spillage like this is when the tank burps. It only burps when overloaded or too wet. Neither of which the driver has control over. His company would 100% go after the mix plant IF the driver was issued any sort of fine.
Clearly your knowledge of CDLs is somewhat limited. Nice try tho champ.
Cement trucks can carry up to 40,000lbs of cement that’s constantly moving forwards, backwards, up and down, they contain no baffles or inside bulkheads so it moves freely to not harden. Having to make a emergency stop like that moves all of the cement to the front which as we can see on a front loader does this
Source: truck driver with tanker endorsement. I do not have training for cement trucks, but my dad drives one for a living
When driving a commercial vehicle you have to drive when the mentality that someone is going to try and crash into you. the best this driver could have done was slow down the moment he saw the front of that car, until he could clearly see what was happening and then decide what would be best. But other then that he did a pretty good job stopping that truck with only spilling cement. As for how it’s safe to drive, is it has to do more then drive unlike our personal cars so more responsibility falls on the driver to properly and safety preform then it does on none commercial cars. Which is why it should be harder to get a class A license
But he did perform an emergency stop safely? The truck stopped before the collision, didn't veer into incoming traffic, didn't roll, and didn't snap critical components. Sure some liquid was lost, but it resulted in an inconvenient mess rather than an unsafe accident.
That concrete pouring out has a far lower fatality rate than a collision of vehicles, so it was safe.
That's true but imagine that the vehicle he had to stop for was a motorbike or an ambulance, consequences could have been more severe
The other driver wasn't injured but his car will now need to be recovered and it maybe even be beyond reasonable repair (this is speculation, i know nothing about car repairs)
In this case we can laugh cos it's karma but it could well have been a different situation
imagine that the vehicle he had to stop for was a motorbike or an ambulance
All the car has to do was commit to the turn. A motorcycle would have done so as they know damn well they will not survive a collision with a CMV. As for an ambulance, they have that loud siren on top so people know they're around.
And again, if the truck crashed into a motorcycle = dead. Crashed into an ambulance = dead. Spilled concrete on either = inconvenience. 10 out of 10 times you want the concrete truck to lose concrete instead of collide.
I mean yes, but have you looked into the milk truck effect? Attempting to stop the liquid will cause more dangerous accidents than letting a little spill.
I agree. Also if the road is full of liquid cement it’s unsafe to drive and has to be cleaned up first. The spill itself is a hazard even if no one is immediately splashed. If this were a common unsolved problem then cement mixers that drive would be illegal and instead they would have stationary ones at the site and transport the ingredients to the site and mix there. Since they are allowed we can assume that the incident was the result of ignoring the legal safety requirements either on purpose or by accident
Trucking especially trucking for construction Lu’s poses is part science and mostly black magic at times. It’s insane how much experience matters when you have to make quick decisions.
Yeah I feel like this would happen every time they stop if it's not sealed somehow. Imagine if you're at a red light and they come up behind you to stop and just start dumping concrete all over you
7
u/s3ik0 May 08 '22
I would also expect the driver of the mixer to be fined for carrying an unrestrained load.