Rachelle Biggs is the owner and webmaster of the sucessful site: http://www.newbiedriver.com FACT #1: More than 1/2 of truck drivers' deaths are due to rollover.
FACT #2: Most rollover accidents are entirely preventable.
FACT #3: Advisory speeds for ramps and curves are for CARS and are NOT safe for high-profile vehicles, such as trucks. What happens when a load of swinging meat tries to negotiate a curve too fast? Find out
FACT 4: Rollover is even more of a problem for high center of gravity vehicles such as tankers and livestock trailers but even dry/reefer trailers can be loaded with a high center of gravity.
ROLLOVER CAN ALMOST ALWAYS BE BLAMED ON ONE THING: EXCESSIVE SPEED
A Recent Example:
Beer haul hits skids on Big I
A big rig hauling 1,600 cases of Bud Light overturned July 7, resulting in the first unscheduled closure during Big I re-construction in Albuquerque, NM. The rig, driven by Max Chowdhury of Wichita, KS, drove up the northbound I-25 on ramp from eastbound Interstate 40 too fast and laid over onto the concrete barrier, skidding on its side for more than 200 feet....
A truck/trailer obviously sits much higher off of the ground than a car does. When a car comes into a turn or curve too fast, the first thing it will do is skid. When a truck/trailer comes into a turn or curve too fast, the first thing it will do is rollover. It is the nature of the vehicle. Further, a car will usually allow you to be quite a bit higher than the Advisory Speed before it will go into a skid. A truck, on the other hand, will NOT tolerate ANYWHERE NEAR as much excess speed before it will rollover. It is somewhat similar to the difference between, say a Camaro and a pick up truck. The Camaro is built for cornering and sits low to the ground. The pick up sits higher. For those of you who have driven both types of vehicles, you know that you don't take corners as quickly in the pickup as you do in the Camaro. The difference between a tractor and a car is much, much, much more pronounced than between a Camaro and a pickup, but just so you get the idea...
Think about this: you have just left the grocery store and have two sacks. One sack has canned goods in the bottom and a couple boxes of cereal on top of those cans. The second sack has large, family size frozen tv dinners in it. They are relatively heavy and completely fill the sack. When you go to your car to put the sacks in, (don't tell me you use the drive-up) you know you can put the sack with the cans and cereal anywhere ... it is not going to fall over. The tv dinner sack, though, has to be wedged or leaned up against something or it is going to fall over the first time you turn. The tv dinner sack has a higher center of gravity than the can sack. The tv dinner sack's weight is the same at the bottom as it is at the top -- whereas the canned sack contains all it's weight at the bottom. The canned sack is far more stable because of this. A semi-trailer is very similar. Sometimes you'll have pallets that are only 4 foot tall (can sack). Other times you'll have pallets that are only a couple of feet off the ceiling (tv dinner sack). Hey, it's a corny analogy but ?
If I said I could give you a guarantee that you'd never rollover, would you believe it? Of course you wouldn't. For one, don't use the word "never". It's a terrible word and an invitation to disaster. For two, there are no guarantees and that goes triple for trucking. No, but really, I have a pretty good guarantee for you -- it works almost* every single time to prevent rollover. This is going to sound too incredibly easy to be believed, but it really is just THIS EASY.
SLOW DOWN ON TURNS AND CURVES -- at least 5 mph, if not 10 mph, BELOW the posted ADVISORY SPEED.
Now here's the part that messes so many people up:
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use the SPEEDOMETER to know your speed!!! Check it BEFORE you come into the curve or turn.
Do NOT judge your speed by what it "FEELS" like...you will nearly always be WRONG ...
It is a proven fact that the "human speedometer" is, well, a piece of crap. What happens is this: a person drives for several hours or more down the interstate at 55, 60, 65 mph. They become used to moving at this speed. When it's time to slow down and exit the interstate, unless they look at the speedometer, they will almost always be WRONG about how fast they are actually moving. They may think it "feels" like 35, but will more than likely be going 45 mph or more. It is a natural human tendency and it's said that this gets WORSE as you become more comfortable in the truck. Don't believe it? This one is "safe to try at home" (with your CAR -- but don't get TOO carried away!)